Power Redefined
by Deathdingle
Summary: AU. Naruto disappeared on a mission, he returns unexpectedly, and gains a few new skills, with changes to his body come changes in his choices.probably not the best summary sorry, I hope it's better than it sounds. please note mystery genre Complete
1. Awakening

Authors notes:

'hey' General talking

"hey" thought, demon or otherwise

Please read and review, they aren't going to be short but I'm hoping that they're worth reading

* * *

Power – Redefined

Chapter 1 - Awakening

He woke up, looking around him he could see nothing, it was completely black, but he could tell that he must be in some kind of tunnel or cave because he could feel the uneven stone floor under his back, it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. He vaguely remembered being in some sort of liquid, it was green and he could see people moving around in front of him but apparently out side of the liquid then something was dropped into the water and another liquid rose up from the bottom of tank, this one was blue and a lot warmer than the green one that just seemed to vanish as the exothermic reaction took place. He couldn't remember what happened after that till he woke up without a clue as to where he was.

"Alright kid time to find out where the hell we are" said a voice in his head

"Oh really! And how exactly do you propose to do that?" he replied

"Simple really, I'm going to give you a new set of eyes" The voice said matter-of-factly

"Huh, how the hell can you do that?" He asked surprise apparent in his voice

"I can do many things that would normally be impossible, I'm the reason you've not died yet" Replied the voice

"Even so I thought you had to have kekkei genkai to begin with" He was curious and annoyed now, he knew he didn't have a bloodline and he was pretty sure that without one this being talking to him from within his own head could do nothing.

"Ah but that's where you are wrong" said the voice sounding slightly cocky, having apparently just read his thoughts "You already have a kekkei genkai and one of the strongest bloodlines around, but with no-one to teach you how to activate it or use it, it just lay dormant, now I'm going to teach you to activate and use it, but first I'm going to make it even more powerful, if you thought that the Byakugan or the Sharingan where strong yours will make them seem no better than normal eyesight in comparison" said the voice

"OK then so what is my natural bloodline then?" he asked the voice

"Fuengan: It's a powerful combination of Byakugan, Sharingan and a few other things one is a kind of genjutsu, another is in a class of its own and the rest I can't remember right now, now to give you a small history lesson before you bombard me with questions, your clan dates back over 3000years and was one of the first to have a kekkei genkai. Both the Hyugas and the Uchihas are descended from your clan, although both clans know it and would never admit it, and they each only gained a fraction of the full power, in order for the Hyugas to maintain theirs their eyes had to change and loose their pupils, the power the Uchihas took didn't need to the eyes to change too much but had one slight draw back, because of the level of power the eyes possessed they had to create a way of blocking the power so that only when a person was capable of handling the eyes up to that point could access that power but your clan again had a slight difference, the chakra reserves at any given age where at least 3 times that of normal shinobi at a similar age, so your clan never needed any control measures put in place, but it did have one problem, it could only use one of it's abilities at a time, now then first things first, I'm going to activate your kekkei genkai" said the voice

His eyes felt strange as chakra surged into them opening the gates to pathways he hadn't used before.

"Right now that's done, next is to explain the other skills of your eyes, you know what ultra violet light is and infrared light, your eyes can see both of these and also have the ability to see in any level of light, even total darkness, the genjutsu ability will create 2 kinds, the first is similar to standard genjutsu but is a minimum of 5 layers deep right now but with time and practise more and the second creates a single layer far more real and far harder to break than standard genjutsu, with time the number of layers you can put into it can be increased but each extra layer means using the same amount of chakra again so 2 layers would double the normal charka used, 3 would treble it and 4 would quadruple it and so on for each extra layer and for my gift, as I told you your abilities can normally only be used one at a time but I'm about to change that, you will now be able to use one of each of your abilities at the same time, so for example you could use Sharingan, Byakugan, a 5 layer genjutsu and night vision at the same time but you couldn't use night vision and ultra violet vision at the same time" said the voice

"Well that's all good and well but the hell do I actually get the abilities to work?" he asked

"You make it sound so hard when it's ever so simple, just think about the ability or abilities you want to activate and focus chakra into your eyes, once your eyes are active they will stay active and change what they are doing with a mere thought until you either run out of chakra or deliberately turn them off, unlike the Sharingan and Byakugan they will stay active even whilst you are unconscious and if you are knocked out at the same time as you loose the last of your chakra they will automatically reactivate when you have enough chakra stored up, now give it a try" the voice said

He carefully focused the chakra into his eyes and focused on activating the Byakugan and the night vision suddenly the world around him lit up as though there where lights every were and he found he could see in a dome around him, it was strange for him to not only be able to see straight ahead but behind, above, to both sides and below himself as well.

"Now I have two more small gifts for you, the first is hearing more sensitive than most animals and the second is a sense of smell on the same level these should make your life a lot easier" it said

He looked around and could see he was in some sort of cave but couldn't find any way to get out; as far as he could see the cave just stretched on and on in both directions with neither turns nor ends.

"OK you seem to be struggling a bit here kid so listen to me, focus on what you can hear" the voice said calmly

He did so and could hear the wind moving through the cave even though he couldn't feel it; it was going from in front of him to behind him.

"There you go kid, now you know which way to go to get out" the voice said

He started walking forwards avoiding the various stalagmites that he would have walked into if not for his newly awakened abilities. Slowly but surely he made his way to the end of the cave and out into the early dawn that awaited him outside, he found himself standing on the top of the Hokage monument but towards the back of it out of sight of the village itself, he turned off his night vision and then looked down at his clothes, they weren't his normal orange jumpsuit but instead he had baggy black jeans and a black t-shirt with black boots on his feet.

"Any idea what happened to me?" he asked the voice

"Yeah, you and the rest of your team went on a mission, but unfortunately it would seem that it was a trap to get you, they took out your team and left them there, near as I could tell they were all alive just badly beaten and unconscious, then they took you to some underground lab, I have no idea where, they did something to you but I can't tell what or if it was just one thing or many, beyond that I don't know, I certainly have no idea how we ended up in that cave" the voice replied

"I hope the rest of my team made it back and are OK" He said

'I guess there's only one way to find out' he said out loud and started walking up to the top of the monument and towards the village of Konoha as he reached the top and looked over as an explosion happened at the wall a short distance away from the main gate, he quickly started running towards it.

* * *

As he ran down one of the streets Shikamaru appeared out of a side street and nearly fell over just catching himself and carrying on running when he saw him.

'Hey Naruto, where have you been, you where listed MIA two weeks ago' said Shikamaru running along side him.

'No time to explain right now, we gotta find out what caused that explosion' he replied

As they arrived at the place they saw that the wall had a hole blown into it and sound ninja where pouring through the opening, other leaf ninja had already started arrived and had begun to engage the sound ninja, upon seeing the two young genin one of the sound ninja ran at them from the side but Narutos Fuengan was still active and he saw the ninja come at him, he bit his left thumb and pressed it onto his right forearm, a summoning seal appeared on his arm and a kunai appeared, he quickly grabbed the kunai in his left hand and threw it at the approaching ninja. The ninja hand been so sure that he hadn't been seen that he was surprised to see a kunai flying at him and couldn't react to dodge it, it struck him square in the forehead just below his forehead protector and killed him instantly. Naruto figured it best not to ask how he could do it in the middle of a fight and instead just activated the Sharingan part of his eyes and began to summon more kunai from his arms, quickly firing them at sound ninja both engaged in combat with leaf ninja and those still coming through.

'Shikamaru' Naruto shouted

'What now?' asked Shikamaru in his usual bored voice.

'Is Sasuke in Konoha?' Naruto asked whilst throwing a kunai at a sound ninja that was trying to sneak up behind him and hitting him square in the groin with it.

'Yeah, why?' asked Shikamaru apparently a but curious now

'Good' Naruto said, he then formed 8 hand signs in rapid succession and slammed his palm on to the floor, a summoning circle shot out from around his palm, as the smoke cleared an 8 foot tall fox with 4 tails slowly came into view 'Help the leaf ninja, I need to find some one' he said to the fox

'Sure this looks like fun' said the fox; it appeared to have a sadistic grin on its face

'Shikamaru come on, I need to find Sasuke' shouted Naruto running off, Shikamaru quickly followed 'what a drag, I'd rather be in bed' said Shikamaru under his breath.

"You did that didn't you" said Naruto

"Of course, just another little gift from me, saves summoning those damn toads, they don't listen to you half the time anyway" replied the voice

"OK I'll give you that one, now any guesses on the best way to find Sasuke?" he asked

"He's the one that's got the Sharingan isn't he?" asked the voice

"Yeah, why?" Naruto was a little confused as to why they wanted to know

"OK that makes life easier, there's one more ability your eyes have, by focusing hard on the kind of kekkei genkai that's descended from yours you want to find your eyes can lock onto and track each and every person around, they can also point you in the direction of the nearest person with that kekkei genkai, with time you'll be able to locate any type of kekkei genkai this way but it takes practice to find them, but your blood already knows about those descended from it so it can find them easily" replied the voice

"Alright, thanks for all your help, planning on giving me more in the future or is it a one day special?" asked Naruto

"I'll see" replied the voice

Naruto stopped suddenly to Shikamarus surprise 'Right time to find Sasuke' he said and closing his eyes started to focus, suddenly his eyes flew open 'This way' he said running down a side alley

'How in the hell does he suddenly know where he is? Oh well I better follow him' Shikamaru muttered as he ran after Naruto

As he was running up to an alley his eyes caught sight of Neji Hyuga round the corner and he shouted 'Neji, come on we're gonna need all the help we can get' both Neji and Shikamaru where stunned, they couldn't work out how he had seen Neji, but dismissing it for the time being they both followed him as he ran through the streets twisting and turning.

He followed the signals that his eyes gave him turning left then right then left again, as he got closer the signal his eyes gave him started angling upwards, so he jumped, he could see Neji and Shikamaru apparently very surprised at his actions but they followed none the less, once on the roof tops his eyes seemed to lock onto someone moving off in the distance, he quickly jumped from roof top to roof top moving on an intercept course with Neji and Shikamaru following along, completely dumbfounded as to how Naruto seemed to know exactly where to go.

Naruto quickly jumped from rooftop to rooftop continually gaining on Sasuke, after around a minute he shouted 'Sasuke, over here!' Sasuke quickly turned and headed towards Naruto. As soon as he arrived he noticed a difference in Narutos eyes.

'Naruto, what's happened to your eyes? They look like a cross between a strange version of Sharingan, a weird Byakugan and something else that I've never seen before' said Sasuke

'I'm not surprised, my kekkei genkai has been activated' replied Naruto

'OK, but why does it look like it's got Byakugan and Sharingan mixed together?' asked Neji

'Well that would be because it does, it's the kekkei genkai that both Sharingan and Byakugan descended from, I can probably teach you both to access the most powerful parts of your kekkei genkai' replied Naruto

'What are you on about Naruto, there is no more power in the Byakugan' said Neji

'And the extra power in the Sharingan can only be unlocked when you have enough chakra to do so' continued Sasuke

'OK then if you don't believe me Sasuke look into my eyes and I'll activate the next stage for you right now' said Naruto

'Fine let's see if you can' replied Sasuke looking into Narutos eyes, as he did Narutos eyes started to glow then his felt strange he blinked and when he opened his eyes again the world around him seemed to have slowed down as though his Sharingan was active but he couldn't feel any chakra being used by his eyes.

'It's done' said Naruto looking away.

'OK, that's different' said Shikamaru

'What's different?' asked Sasuke

'Your eyes instead of the tailed balls of your normal Sharingan their like fishing hooks, three of them' said Shikamaru

'Your normal Sharingan won't take anywhere near as much chakra to use its abilities, and you've gotten a few new tricks with the Mangekyo Sharingan, I'll activate the next stage when you've gotten used to that one, now then Neji how about I activate your latent abilities?' said Naruto moving his attention from Sasuke to Neji.

'You can try but like I said there's nothing there' replied Neji, his tone arrogant and as though he knew everything that would ever be need to be known.

'Alright then look into my eyes' said Naruto focusing his eyes on Neji, Neji followed suit focusing his eyes on Narutos which had started to glow again Neji could feel the chakra behind his eyes creating new pathways and it felt as though his eyes where changing too.

Shikamaru watched amazed, first Naruto had activated a kekkei genkai that he hadn't even heard of, then he'd advanced Sasukes Sharingan and now he could see Nejis eyes develop pupils right in front of his own, they seemed to be changing to be more like normal eyes but still kept a look of having had Byakugan, they also seemed to take on a slight orange hue to the irises 'Well Neji I think you can be pretty sure he's done something to them, by the look on your face I'd say you Byakugan is still active and working fine, but your eyes now look more like normal eyes' he said.

'There's more than that, you can see objects that are moving too fast for human eyes to see now and you can also have night vision and can see in infrared' said Naruto

'Oh and how exactly would I do that?' asked Neji

'Simple, the fast vision will activate with your Byakugan and to activate either the night vision or infrared vision all you have to do is think about which one you want to activate and focus some chakra into your eyes and it'll activate, once active you can switch between the two just by thinking about it' said Naruto

'Okay now that that's all sorted, why did we need Sasuke and what are you planning to do?' Asked Shikamaru

'Well I'm guessing the second part of the final stage of the chunin exams went ahead as planned' said Naruto

'No they didn't, Sasuke was given time to recover after the beating he took, the water shinobi that was left was called home because her father had just died so she was given time to grieve and with you MIA Neji asked Haishi Hyuga to see if he could get them postponed because he wants to prove to you that you're a failure, so they've been put back 3 weeks, but it would seem that Orochimaru decided he wasn't going to wait' said Shikamaru

'Double perfect, OK Sasuke, Neji it's time for you to put your new skills to the test, we're going to take down Orochimaru, Shikamaru can you devise some sort of plan on the way?' said Naruto

'Sure, but I gotta say I think you're crazy, taking on Orochimaru ain't gonna be a walk in the park ya know' said Shikamaru

'We'll see, you just come up with a plan' said Naruto

They once again started leaping from rooftop to rooftop this time in the direction of the Hokages tower, both Sasuke and Neji where finding their eyes far more effective at their normal functions and they had both realised that along with the new abilities they had gained they also had a small but noticeable increase in their chakra levels.

* * *

Naruto lead the way, they'd just landed on a rooftop when 3 sound ninja jumped up onto the other side of it 'We don't have time for this' Shouted Naruto continuing to run at the 3 ninja, as he approached red chakra covered each of his hands and quickly morphed into blades, he put his hands together and they formed a single blade 10 feet long, he brought it down to his right side and swept it round in an arc in front of himself easily slicing the 3 ninja in half, their bodies quickly falling to the floor with blood spraying everywhere except for some unknown reason the 4 of them, as the chakra blade dissipated and the 4 genin ran past the dead sound ninja.

"That was your doing wasn't it" Naruto thought

"Gee you think" the voice said sarcastically "like you said you don't have time for that sort of thing so for now I'll just take control of your arms and use my chakra to solve these little problems, I'll teach you the techniques I use and a few extras either later today or tomorrow we don't have time for it now" it said

"Fair enough, by the way is there anything more about my kekkei genkai that would help?" asked Naruto

"Now that you mention it I think there is but I can't quite remember, I'll let you know as soon as I can" said the voice

"OK, now to kick Orochimarus wimpy ass" replied Naruto

The 4 genin continued to run at high speed they could see the Hokages tower getting closer, after a couple more jumps they could see a barrier on the top of the Hokages tower and after 3 more jumps they could see several ANBU black ops outside it apparently unable to get in.

'Great how are we going to get through that?' Asked Shikamaru in his usual droll

"I remember one now kid, you dispel any barrier regardless of type or strength by merely touching it" said the voice

"Great, that's just what we needed" thought Naruto 'Don't worry another part of my kekkei genkai means that I can dispel a barrier of any type or strength by just touching it' he told them.

'OK, well I guess that's that problem solved, the best plan of attack is going to be for Sasuke and me to take the back and Naruto and Neji to take the front, our chance of success is at its best – around 30percent' said Shikamaru

'Well you would be right on our previous power levels but I think our best chance will be with Sasuke and me up front, we can keep him pinned with very powerful kekkei genkai genjutsu and whilst he's stuck you and Neji can hit him from the back, our chance of success should be nearer 95percent' replied Naruto

'Why did I even bother come up with a plan if he wasn't going to bother using it, then again like he said I am basing it on what the three of them where capable of not what they are capable of' Muttered Shikamaru to himself

'Naruto, what are you on about I don't have a kekkei genkai genjutsu' said Sasuke quite confused by Narutos statement

'Trust me Sasuke you do now, and when the time comes you'll know exactly how to use, I'll use mine first and trap him then you'll be able to use yours without him even trying to fight it' said Naruto as they landed on top of the Hokages tower and one of the ANBU turned round to look at them

'What are you genin doing here, your no match for Orochimaru, particularly not you Sasuke Uchiha as you're the one he's after' said the ANBU wearing an owl mask

'Do you want in the barrier to get the Hokage out or not, and I do mean get him out not fight alongside him?' asked Naruto

'We certainly want in the barrier why?' asked the ANBU

'Then get out the way and leave this to us' Said Naruto. The ANBU quickly moved aside, they planned to let them open the barrier if they could then they'd knock them out and one of them would take them to safety.

Naruto, Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru walked up to the barrier then Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru stopped just in front of it and Naruto carried on and soon as it seemed like he was going to hit the barrier face first the barrier dissipated and he walked on into the second barrier and to the surprise of the 4 ANBU as soon as he hit the barrier it dissipated and all 4 of the genin disappeared, they quickly hurried inside to look for the Hokage.

* * *

Naruto appeared in front of the Hokage, standing between him and Orochimaru 'It's time you left Lord Hokage, we'll handle this guy' said Naruto

'How can you, he's one of the Sannin, the best of my former pupils?' asked the Hokage, apparently very worried for the safety of the young boys.

'Relax, we're far stronger than we used to be' said Naruto looking over his shoulder to smile at the Hokage, it was then that the Hokage saw Narutos eyes and the change they had undergone and the realisation that the most powerful kekkei genkai was once again active and under the control of a loyal member of the hidden leaf village.

'Alright Naruto, he's all yours, make him pay for his crimes' said the Hokage feeling very proud of the young man standing in front of him, after this was done he would make sure the village knew of his bravery and his kekkei genkai, the most powerful to have ever come out of The Village Hidden in the Leaves: The Fuengan.

'You got it Hokage now get clear' said Naruto

'Oh Sarutobi-Sensei you aren't leaving the party already are you?' Asked Orochimaru, his voice light and playful as though he was inviting the man he was trying to kill back into a birthday party or a disco.

'Yes I am Orochimaru, you're going to have your hands full anyway, you remember the nine tailed fox don't you, Naruto here is the one that it was sealed in, and he's an Uzamaki, you remember their kekkei genkai don't you, the Fuengan, well I suggest you take a good look at his eyes, and of course you know the, Sharingan possessed by Sasuke and the Byakugan possessed by Neji Hyuga over there and of course you should be able to tell a Nara like Shikamaru just by his looks' replied the Hokage with a smile on his face that grew each time he relayed more information to his former pupil and watched his face drop further with each and every piece he heard.

'No this can't be, these clans shouldn't even be able to stand being near each other never mind fight together' said Orochimaru a look of pure terror on his face

'We'll do more than just fight together, we'll fight as a team we aren't just a few ninja from different clans, we're friends first and foremost' said Naruto a wide grin on his face.

'No that's impossible, the Uchiha and Hyuga elders should have prevented it' cried Orochimaru despairing more and more with each time he was told something that would never have happened before

'I'm one of only 2 remaining Uchihas and I intend to kill Itachi for wiping out the rest of the clan' said Sasuke

'Like I'd listen to the elders of the main household, they're the reason my father is dead' said Neji

'What can I say, these guys are worth the effort because I know they'd put it in for me' said Shikamaru a rare smile gracing his lips

'And I'm guessing you already know, but just in case you don't, I grew up an orphan, outcast by the village, these guys knew me before knowing about the fox and they know that the fox doesn't control me so even now that they know they don't care and are still my friends, as for my clans problems with other clans, I couldn't care less, we intend to forge a new future with those problems left in the past' said Naruto, slowly starting to build up his chakra.

"Hey how about lending me some chakra to give this guy more layers of realistic genjutsu then he ever imagined normal genjutsu could have?" Naruto asked

"Now that sounds like fun, sure thing take as much as you need" replied the voice

"Alright, thanks" Naruto thought and then started to draw out the chakra and mix it with his own, then he quickly started focusing the chakra into his eyes 'Fuengan style: Visual Jutsu – power hunger' Naruto shouted whilst giving a look that seemed to bore into his very soul to Orochimaru, but to Orochimaru nothing seemed to happen.

'Either this is excellent genjutsu or you just failed miserably' Orochimaru chuckled

'Argh, why didn't it work' Naruto said

'MMM, well maybe it did, so just in case I think I'll dispel it' said Orochimaru putting his hands together to form the genjutsu dispel seal and activating it, the world went black for a moment then the 'world' reappeared again

'Well it looks like you managed to break the genjutsu so we're just going to have to take you head on' said the Naruto standing in front of him

* * *

Meanwhile:

'OK Sasuke get ready, he's broken the first layer of my genjutsu and thinks he's free and clear' said Naruto, they were still standing in the same places they had been in, Orochimaru hadn't actually moved a muscle even to talk

'What on earth do you mean Naruto?' asked Neji

'The genjutsu created by Fuengan is so powerful that it creates the illusion purely in the victims head, as far as Orochimaru believes he's fighting us right now, he's dispelled the first layer and it's taken quite a bit out of him, but he's still got 4 layers to go before he can get out and each time he's going to need more energy because the fights he'd have would be harder each time so it gets more and more realistic, but we aren't going to give him that chance, we're about to use the Mangekyo Sharingan that Sasuke has, that'll trap him in a fifth layer of genjutsu again, but it will be fully real to him and Sasuke will have full control of it, and in the meantime Neji is going to close most of his chakra points, as to date I'm the only one that's been able to reopen them I doubt he will, and Shikamaru will grab him with his shadow and hold him in place whilst we bind him in place, once that's done Sasukes genjutsu can be deactivated and by the time he get's out of the final of my genjutsu he'll be nearly dead, that is of course assuming he does.' Said Naruto

'Alright, Sasuke go ahead and start, but Naruto when the hell did you become able to make such a plan with such speed?' asked a very surprised Shikamaru

'No idea. I don't have any idea what happened to me in the 2 weeks I've been gone, all I do know is that the nine tailed fox ain't gonna let me be controlled unless he's the one doing the controlling, which he doesn't seem inclined to do anymore, so whatever they did is only going to be of benefit to me' replied Naruto.

'OK' Replied Shikamaru as Sasuke began channelling chakra into his eyes for his genjutsu and Naruto altered his genjutsu so that Sasuke appeared in front of Orochimaru in it, then Sasuke activated his mangekyo sharingan and Orochimaru was caught in the genjutsu.

'Alright, now Neji start cutting off his chakra' said Naruto when he knew that Orochimaru was being pounded to hell in Sasukes genjutsu

'Alright, here I go Eight Trigrams: one hundred and twenty eight palms' said Neji then beginning to quickly and accurately slam into 128 of Orochimarus chakra points instantly closing each of them and just as Sasuke finished his genjutsu Neji finished his attack and Orochimaru fell limp on the floor exhausted mentally and physically unable to move.

'Well it would seem that you've teamed up rather well to take me out, and your genjutsu worked so well I couldn't even tell it was genjutsu, but do you really think that blocking the chakra points would stop a Sannin? never mind me?' Orochimaru started building up the chakra and tried to push it out only to find that he couldn't 'what have you done to me?' he screamed

'Just closed off the chakra points around your chakra centre so it can't build up enough momentum to break through, the only one who can open them after I've done that is Naruto by using the Nine tailed fox's chakra to overfill his chakra centre forcing them open' said Neji matter of factly

(A/N: Neji and Naruto decided to have a sparring match before he went missing so they could see who was likely to loose in the chunin exams – it ended in a draw)

'No, how could you have done that, it's impossible' screamed Orochimaru

'Oh by the way, your still in a genjutsu only now you can't dispel it and slowly but surely your body will die whilst you can do nothing to stop it, your arms are already gone and your legs will follow shortly' said Naruto

'Oh really, well I hate to disappoint you there because as long as I'm still conscious I can still dispel genjutsu' said Orochimaru doing so as he said this, to realize that now Naruto was actually standing over him holding a kunai to his throat, but just before Naruto could deliver the final blow the sound four and Kabuto appeared knocking Naruto away, the sound four each squaring of against one of the Konoha ninja whilst Kabuto picked up Orochimaru and then all four of them disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

'Damn, we lost him' said Shikamaru running forwards into the smoke to look for them

'Don't worry about it, his arms are useless now and it will be quite a while before Kabuto can reopen his chakra points, and that is going to hurt like hell' said Neji

Just then a huge raccoon appeared a short distance from the village limits outside the walls 'Looks like I've still got something to take care of' said Naruto with a smile, then he started jumping away in it's direction

"It's Shukaku, used to wreck a village or two a year alongside him about a century before I ended up in you" replied the voice

* * *

Well that's it for the first chapter, sorry it's long but I've decided that each chapter I write for this fic is going to be no less than 5000 words, but it might help by cutting down the number of chapters or could just mean more chapters with more detail, this chapter finished with 5,715 words without the header and this dialogue, other chapters could be longer still.

Poll:

continue calling it "the voice"

call it "Kyuubi no yoko"

call it "Kyuubi" only

call it "Nine tails"

call it "Hirui"

Next chapter: Battling demons, Hiashi Hyugas reactions, signs of relationships, the chunin exams and thoughts of a new Hokage: Chapter 2 – Emotions Awakened


	2. Emotions Awakened

Please check my homepage to know how each of my stories is progressing, this will also give you advanced warning of when the next chapter of each should be due up and of any up and coming stories that I haven't released yet

New info:

_**Flashback open and closing**_

_Flashback text_

Please remember all names and Jutsu names that don't appear in the series are taken from Japanese, I know not everyone will get the same translation so if you want to know the one I'm using just ask

* * *

Power – Redefined

Chapter 2 – Emotions Awakened

"Why did you stop?" Asked Naruto

"He's hardly more than an animal, I really couldn't abide being around him" replied the voice, they where heading for the demon with Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru

"OK, well any tips on beating him?" Asked Naruto

"Actually, yes, summon Arasu, he should take him out without a problem, then I'll teach you a Jutsu to seal Shukaku completely, freeing the host from his influence" said the voice

"Sounds good to me, but why are you doing all this?" asked Naruto

"For this particular one it's because I don't like Shukaku, as for the rest, whilst you where out I did some thinking and decided that since I'm stuck with you I'd rather not have you below your full potential" replied the voice

"OK well thanks" replied Naruto

'Sasuke you can move faster than the rest of us, move on ahead and try and slow him down' Shouted Naruto

'Right, get there as quick as you can' replied Sasuke

* * *

When Naruto, Neji and Shikamaru arrived they found that Sakura had tried to follow and defeat Gaara but hadn't been very successful, then when Sasuke had arrived he'd tried to help Sakura but Gaara had been too power full

'My gentle fist attacks won't work against him, his sand creates a barrier that stops them getting through' said Neji

'I seriously doubt my shadow will hold him, he has too much power' Shikamaru confirmed

'OK, well don't worry about it, once I've freed Sakura grab her Neji, Shikamaru you grab Sasuke and get them the hell outta here I can deal with this guy myself' Said Naruto as he started to focus his chakra

'Alright, good luck' said Shikamaru

'SHADOW CLONE JUTSU' shouted Naruto and in a puff of smoke 9 more Narutos appeared 'time to take out the trash and free Sakura' said one of the Narutos

With the aid of the demon chakra the Narutos where to fast for the bulky Shukaku and it struggled to take down eight having quickly dispatched 1 which also sped to remaining eight up whilst the ninth went to Sakura

'Don't worry Sakura I'll get you out of there' said the real Naruto

'FIEND SLEEP JUTSU' Shouted Gaara forming a hand seal

"What's he doing?" asked Naruto

"He's putting himself to sleep so that Shukaku takes over and controls the body" Replied the voice

"Any Ideas?" he asked

"Leave it to me, I'm going to implant some more knowledge into your mind, this technique will do 2 things, first it will cut through the sand barrier and second it will disrupt the chakra controlling the sand preventing it from reforming" replied the voice

Naruto quickly performed 5 seals then his hands glowed yellow and chakra blades formed on the tips of his fingers, he quickly sliced down each side of Sakura, giving plenty of space to make sure he didn't hit her, the sand holding her then fell apart its chakra disrupted freeing her

'Neji, take her and get back to the village, I can't afford any friendly's this could get dangerous' said the Naruto

'OK, come back alive, I still have to beat you in the Chunin exam' Neji joked

'We'll see who wins, now go' Said Naruto dispersing his clones, Neji picked up Sakura and jumped away on the tree branches back to the village with Neji out of the way Naruto started building his chakra

'SUMMONING JUTSU' he shouted and a huge 8 tailed fox appeared beneath him

'You must be the one that holds the fox God, very well I am yours to command' said the fox

'Huh? Arasu? That you?' said Shukaku

'Yes it is Shukaku' replied the fox

'Awesome, you can help me destroy this place then' said Shukaku

'No that won't be happening Shukaku, my Master here is the container of my God and this place is his home, it is the will of my God that I serve him in whatever he wishes to do and his wish, is to stop you, so I will stop you' explained the fox

'Well that sucks, oh well, at least we can have a fun fight and try and draw it out' replied the sand raccoon

'Also not going to happen, this is going to be quick and boring' replied Arasu, he then quickly charged forwards and sliced Shukakus side as he passed him

'Alright now, we need to wake the Jinchuriki to seal Shukakus mind back inside, after that we need to take down the Jinchuriki to reseal Shukaku within his body' said Arasu

"Never mind that kid, that's the hard way, I'm going to teach you the seal to permanently seal and silence Shukaku away from the Jinchuriki, this seal can be stored in the palm of your hand as a small blue spiral, then you release it by placing your hand on the Jinchuriki's head and saying 'Seal' that will activate the jutsu, it may take a minute or two for it to work but you can back off 3 seconds after you've said seal, after that the jutsu will be in his body and it can't be countered, all that will be left is for the jutsu to take effect" said the voice, then Naruto found he knew a new set of seals and exactly how to use them

"Alright thanks, now it's time to take him down" said Naruto quickly starting the set of 15 hand seals to perform the jutsu

"Go for it kid" said the voice then Arasu made another pass of Shukaku but Naruto couldn't finish the seals in time to jump across but as the large fox turned round he finished the seals and a small blue spiral appeared on the back of his right hand to mark that the jutsu was stored and ready for use and as Arasu passed by the raccoon for the third time Naruto jumped off and headed straight for Gaara, while Arasu quickly spun and wrapped himself around the raccoon, latching onto his arms to prevent them from getting Naruto, to give him the time he needed for the seal to be implanted into Gaaras body

'SEAL' Shouted Naruto as he landed on Shukakus head and swiftly placed his hand on Gaaras forehead, he then counted, 1, 2, 3, 4 seconds, slowly the spiral disappeared from it's tip round to the dot at the centre allowing an extra second to make sure Naruto then jumped back onto Arasu who then quickly released his grip on the sand raccoon and moved out the way of his swing

'What did you do' cried Shukaku, obviously very panicked and confused by what just happened

'Arasu keep him focused on us, we can't take a chance that he'll figure out what we've done, I want him to think that the technique didn't work, act as if your trying to give me another chance to get on and wake Gaara up, don't get hit but leave enough so that I shouldn't get the opportunity to jump across' said Naruto to the fox

'OK, this won't be easy but I'll do what I can, and I do appreciate your concern for my safety' replied the fox as he again charged at the raccoon but moved slightly away as one of the demons claws swiped at him, avoiding the hit and ensuring that Naruto was unable to jump across to Shukakus head again, he continued this for around a minute and a half till Shukaku suddenly stopped

'Uh Oh' said the giant raccoon as he suddenly disappeared and Gaara fell towards the floor, Naruto quickly jumped off Arasu and caught the still waking up Gaara

'Thanks for your help Arasu you can go now' said Naruto laying Gaara on the floor

'Thank you, glad I could help' replied the fox before disappearing in a poof of smoke, Gaara slowly regained consciousness

'Argh, what happened?' he asked

'I resealed Shukaku inside you, you can still access his chakra but he will no longer be able to influence you, you will be able to sleep soundly from now on' Naruto informed the sand ninja

'How did you know his name was Shukaku? He doesn't normally tell people his name' asked Gaara

'You aren't the only one with a demon sealed inside them, only difference is mine is willing to help me, that's how I knew the seal to stop him affecting you, add to that you only fight for yourself, you never stood a chance because having something to protect is what truly gives you strength' said Naruto

'I'm going to kill you, you haven't beaten me yet' said Gaara malice apparent in his voice he then ran forwards and attempted to slash Naruto with a kunai

'Yes I have Gaara, I can still summon Arasu again and your sand can't do anything because I already know how to beat it, even if you could do something to me I will always win in the end because I have people to protect' Naruto said matter-of-factly

'Very well I concede defeat, I cannot match that kind of power' said Gaara dropping his stance

'Good choice, now come back to Konoha with me and we'll see about you and your siblings becoming official Konoha shinobi' said Naruto turning towards Konoha

'Alright, that sounds nice' said Gaara walking up to stand behind Narutos right shoulder, they then moved off towards Konoha

* * *

Naruto and Gaara had picked up Kankuro and Temari on their way back to Konoha through the forest and they arrived on the wall that surrounded Konoha where Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru and Neji where, upon seeing the three sand shinobi Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji instantly got into battle stance, Sakura still being unconscious, to which Temari and Kankuro also got into a ready stance

'Relax guys, their going to join Konoha, there's no need to fight' said Naruto waving his hand, the Konoha Ninja remained wary but dropped out of their stances as did the sand ninja 'but first things first' said Naruto picking Sakura up 'we need to take Sakura to the hospital' he then jumped off the wall and the rest of the leaf and sand ninja followed

* * *

'OK now that Sakura is safely in the hospital, we need to get an ANBU member to escort these three to the Hokage' said Naruto, he then pulled out a kunai and attached an exploding note to it and threw it into the air, once it got above the height of the hospital it exploded, less than a minute later 2 ANBU arrived beside them

'Take these three to the Hokage, they wish to defect to Konoha' said Naruto, 1 of the ANBU had been one of the 4 on the roof of the Hokages tower and had witnessed them take on Orochimaru, he decided to argue

'Alright, but what are you going to do?' he replied

'I think I better go and speak with Haishi Hyuga, he isn't going to be happy to hear that his bloodline and the Uchihas are both derivates of the Uzumaki bloodline and weaker ones at that' said Naruto, at this Neji and Sasuke nodded in agreement

'Alright well I think I'll go and talk to our Senseis and let them know what's happened' said Shikamaru

'Very well, we will take these to the Hokage' said the ANBU and with that they moved off, Shikamaru heading for the front gate to locate their 3 jonin sensei Guy, Asuma and Kakashi to let them know what happened and Neji lead Naruto and Sasuke to the Hyuga compound.

* * *

Shikamaru arrived at the part of the wall that had been blown in, he was met with devastation, all around where the bodies of sound and leaf ninja, blood was spattered everywhere, walls where covered and instead of the ground being it's usually yellowish-brown of sand it was the crimson of blood, completely covered, with bodies pilled on top of each other, and more where being pilled on with each passing moment as the jonin and chunin moved the bodies from other places and put them on the largest of the piles that had already formed. Shikamaru ran up to one of the jonin pilling bodies up near a nearby house 'Hey, have you seen Guy, Kakashi or Asuma?' he asked the jonin

'I did see Guy and Kakashi heading for the main gate but I haven't seen Asuma for a couple of days now' replied the jonin, Shikamaru thought he looked somewhat like an older version of Kiba but couldn't be sure

'Alright thanks' Shikamaru said as he started running off in the direction of the main gate.

* * *

Meanwhile:

'Neji' came the sound of a girl's voice, it was light and soft. Neji, Sasuke and Naruto stopped on the building they where on but couldn't see where the voice had come from, then from the side of the building someone jumped up and landed on the roof in front of Neji, the girl had short dark bluish-purple hair, she had on an overly large greyish jacket and black three quarter length trousers with the dark blue sandals that most ninja wore.

'Hinata, what are you doing here?' asked Neji curiously

'I heard someone mention that they'd heard you'd gone after Orochimaru with Sasuke, Naruto and Shikamaru so I got a bit worried and came to see if you where alright' she said, it was then that she noticed his eyes 'What happened to your eyes Neji?' she asked with more than a little concern in her voice

'Yes we took on Orochimaru, and gave him quite the beating, as for my eyes Naruto did it, his Kekkei Genkai has been awakened and it has the ability to unlock the full potential of the Byakugan and the Sharingan, can you awaken hers as well Naruto?' said Neji

'Sure, look into my eyes Hinata' said Naruto

"Don't faint he's just going to help you become more powerful, oh I hope he sees how I feel" thought Hinata

Naruto looked into her eyes and started channelling chakra into his own repeating the same procedure he had done with Neji.

"She loves you kid" came the voice in his head

"How do you know?" asked Naruto a little miffed thinking it was just winding him up

"Three things, first her heart rate skyrocketed the moment she heard your name and even more when she started looking you in the eye, it's a wonder she's still standing, second is the scent she gave off as soon as she saw you, she wants you bad, and third you can see it plain as day in her eyes" said the voice

"OK, so what should I do about it?" asked Naruto

"Realize how you feel about her, she'd be an excellent mate for you, once you've realised your feelings for her everything else should fall into place" Replied the voice plainly

"What do you mean 'realise how I feel about her' I don't understand?" said Naruto a little confused

"Just search your feelings you'll see" Replied the voice

Naruto started searching his feelings for all the girls in the ninja squads, Sakura: Hot as hell but she always hit him, just lust really, Ino: no way looks aren't what he likes and she gossips way to much, every one would know everything, Hinata: always shy in the background, whenever he saw her she'd be looking at him and occasionally he'd even found himself trying to catch a glimpse of her, no matter what anyone else said she always seemed to encourage him and have absolute faith in him that he could never fail, and yes everyone seemed to be able to get a little stronger when he shouted encouragement to them but she always seemed to gain far more, as though she just wanted to do the very best she could just for him.

Then it seemed to hit him like a sledge hammer to the face: he really cared for her, no it was more than that even, he wasn't sure but he thought he might love her and now he could see it in her eyes, she loved him.

'Alright it's done, I'll let Neji explain the new functions of your eyes on the way to the Hyuga compound' said Naruto, but his voice seemed a little different now, there was a feeling in it but she couldn't quite tell what it was, then she realised, she could tell what it was but she couldn't believe it.

They carried on jumping across the rooftops, Hinata paid as much attention as she could to Neji, much as she would've preferred to disappear into her own little world she knew she needed to know what difference it made to her, and according to Neji her eyes had also gained pupils and had taken on a light blue hue, not far from the brilliant blue of Narutos own.

* * *

Back with Shikamaru:

'Guy-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, I have news – Naruto is back and it would seem he has a Kekkei Genkai now and it's fully awakened' said Shikamaru running up to the 2 jonin standing by the main gate

'Your telling us the Fuengan is once again active?' asked Kakashi in a plain voice but his eye showed his happiness both at Narutos return and that he'd managed to activate his Kekkei Genkai

'Yeah and he's already fully advanced Sasukes Sharingan and Nejis Byakugan, he said that Nejis was maxed but Sasuke had another level beyond it, hey how'd you know it was called Fuengan?' Shikamaru seemed very surprised

'I'm one of three that knew of all of Narutos secrets, one being the fox and another being that he was the last in the line of the Uzumakis and had the potential that he could some day activate it, where is he now?' replied Kakashi

'He's on his way to the Hyuga compound with Sasuke and Neji' said Shikamaru a little curious

'Right well I better get going then, I'm going to need to be there because Hiashi will just try and pass it off as some cheap trick' and with that he vanished in a puff of smoke

'Thanks for bringing us this information Shikamaru, I'll pass it on to your sensei and the other jonin' said Guy before disappearing as well

'Great what am I supposed to do now' said Shikamaru to no one in particular in a very bored voice before jumping onto a rooftop and running off

* * *

And now we return to Naruto and the others just as they reached the Hyuga compound:

'The look on Hiashis face is going to be a picture, anyone got a camera handy?' asked Naruto his trademark smile going from ear to ear

'No but I wish I did' replied Neji with a small smile on his face

Once Neji had finished his explanation Hinata had dropped to the back of the group and somewhere along the way Sasuke had moved forward to beside Neji whilst Naruto had moved back to beside Hinata and along the journey the appeared to have gotten quite close

'If I where you right now I would not stand so close we aren't going to want to give him anymore reason to blow up at us' said Neji as Hinata blushed crimson and took quite a large step to her left, then they walked through the large steel gates and into the Hyuga compound, as they entered they could see all around them branch family members training in the gentle fist style, Naruto and Sasuke quickly activated their Sharingan to gather as much information as possible on the gentle fist style and see what they could incorporate into their own, of course this was a far easier task for Naruto as his Byakugan was also active allowing him to copy every technique around him in an instant as well as see the way they worked in relation to the chakra points.

Soon they arrived at the main building and walked up to one of the doors, Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata stopped and Neji walked up and knocked on the door

'Sir I'm here with Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata we must speak with you' said Neji

'Enter' came the gruff male voice of Hiashi from the other side of the door. Neji grabbed the left side of the door and slid the door to the right, Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata walked in and then Hinata turned round and slid the door closed behind her

'What is so important that you came here and brought them with you' said Hashi with his eyes closed referring to Naruto and Sasuke

'If you had bothered to open your eyes father you would already know why we are here' said Hinata, seemingly gaining worlds of confidence just by sitting by Naruto, Hiashi opened his eyes and shortly there after his mouth when he saw their eyes, the 2 pairs of now pupiled and hued Hyuga eyes, Sasukes Mangekyo Sharingan and Narutos brilliant blue with almost unmarked irises, unmarked other then 5, 5-sided stars that formed a pentagram within his eye that denoted the Fuengan Kekkei Genkai and Hiashi knew the significance of it, like the rest of the village he thought the Fuengan Kekkei Genkai of the Uzumakis had been wiped out as it always had to be taught out and no member had ever been able to spontaneously activate it with out the help of another member of their clan, that is until now.

'So you have activated the Fuengan, and for the first time in a thousand years you have used it to increase the power of both the Byakugan and the Sharingan' said Hiashi closing his eyes again 'very well, you will now have the full backing of the Hyuga clan, and Neji come forward and kneel before me' Neji stood up and walked in front of Hiashi, he then knelt down in front of him, Hiashi then closed his eyes and focused his chakra he then made 5 hand seals in rapid succession and opening his eyes said 'Dispel, now Neji your caged bird seal has been removed and you are part of the main household, come and see me tonight I have a letter from your father for you, Sasuke, the Uchiha and the Hyuga have never previously gotten on, but I know Neji holds your skill in high regard, you are always welcome here and I hope that this brings in a new era of friendship between our clan and you the last Uchiha and your future clan'

'Thank you Hiashi, I am glad that the past of our clans was one thing that died with the rest of my clan, and rest assured I will be the last of the true Uchiha until Itachi is dead only then can I look to rebuilding my clan' replied Sasuke bowing low

Neji had been shocked but now spoke 'Why have you removed my seal?' he asked

'Because this is a new era and our clan needs you to be able to learn all our techniques, though I cannot make you heir I am sure you are worthy of the status of being a main branch member, do not trouble yourself with the clan elders I will deal with them myself' replied Hiashi

'I think it's time we left, thank you for your backing Sir' said Naruto getting up and bowing

'Very well, I look forward to watching your progress I am sure you will do well' said Hiashi

Hinata and Sasuke got up and bowed to Hiashi and then followed Naruto out the door, once outside Sasuke said 'I'm not sure what to do now all my plans have gone out the window, but I have a feeling that we'll be called to see the Hokage soon enough'

'You're probably right, why don't you go and let Sakura know what happened' said Naruto

'Yeah alright, I'll see you later' said Sasuke, then he jumped of to the wall that bordered the Hyuga compound and away on the rooftops of Konoha

'So what do you want to do now?' Naruto asked and Hinata nearly fell over in shock, he wanted to do something with her, and he wanted to know what she wanted to do, she managed to regain her composure, she thought about everything she'd dreamed of doing with Naruto if she had the chance, then she realised that in all the trouble and excitement she'd forgotten to eat and was actually rather hungry

'I'm not sure, get something to eat maybe' she said hoping that it would be OK with him

'Sounds great, I think we'll go to a restaurant I know, shall we call it a date?' Naruto replied and as soon as he asked Hinata if she wanted to say it was a date she fainted, she couldn't believe her luck, her first real date with Naruto, and he had asked her

Naruto spent the next 10 minutes trying to bring her round and keep her conscious as every time he brought her round she remembered that she was about to go on her first date with Naruto and fainted again.

When she was finally awake again they got going, they jumped onto the wall and off onto the roofs they travelled around 4 streets into an area with some quite expensive restaurants and when Naruto and Hinata jumped down and walked over to one of the most expensive restaurants Hinata fainted again, and again for around 15 minutes this time Naruto had to keep bringing her round for her to faint again finally she was awake and they walked into the restaurant.

'We will not serve you so you might as well go' said the waiter to Naruto, the malice in his voice apparent, before he saw Hinata

'So you won't serve the escort of a member of the Hyuga clan, come on then Naruto I guess we'll just have to go and tell my father that I couldn't get lunch whilst he trained Neji and Hanabi' Said Hinata and the waiters jaw immediately dropped he started stammering as he tried to apologise profusely when he saw Hinata

'I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry Ma'am I-I didn't realise h-h-he was with you, please come this way' said the waiter

'If I find that you've treated him this way ever again then the weight of the Hyuga clan will crush this restaurant, Naruto has their FULL backing' said Hinata, and despite her firmness her voice was still soft

'Understood ma'am I will inform all our staff and it will never happen again' replied the waiter

'Now that that's settled what can you recommend for today, I'd like something not on the menu, I'm sure your chef knows at least a couple of dishes' said Hinata still with a firm voice

'Actually, I think I know one that may be of interest, it was a dish the chef made on the request of the fourth Hokage, would you like to try it?' asked the waiter whilst seating them at a table for 2

'Yes I think that will be fitting' said Hinata kindly. Naruto and Hinata small talked until the food arrived, just talking about the weather and the attack that happened earlier, when the food arrived they sat silently eating, although around half way through Hinata somewhere found the courage to manage to start playing footsy with Naruto under the table, which surprised Naruto but he was more than happy to return the gesture.

* * *

And the events of Sasuke:

He jumped from rooftop to rooftop, he had one destination in mind, beyond that he had no idea where Sakura might be, but he would find her, as he travelled he thought about her, she was a beautiful girl but he couldn't afford a relationship, it was to risky, anyone that was too attached could get in the way when he went after Itachi and that wouldn't do, anyone who wanted to be close to him had to be able to let him go and stay out of his way, he knew Naruto could, even if he was there he'd just cheer from the sidelines and like everyone that knew Naruto well, if he was cheering for you, you couldn't explain how but you always got stronger and he knew that Naruto would only step in when he was dead, and only God could help Itachi at that point, he knew that Naruto was far stronger than him, particularly now, and since Naruto had all the skills of the Mangekyo Sharingan and the Byakugan rolled into one with a few bonuses added to that and with the nine tailed fox sealed inside him there was virtually no limit to his chakra stores.

Before he knew it Sasuke was at the street with Sakuras house and her parents shop on, he jumped down from the roof and walked over to the shop, he saw Sakura inside and knocked on the window, she looked round and saw him a warm smile forming on her face, he still couldn't deny she was pretty, but his mind was still too set on his goal to give it a second thought beyond, well maybe when I'm done with Itachi, she then walked out of the shop

'Hey Sasuke, what's up?' she asked warmly

'How are you?' he asked

'Better since you saved me and took me to the hospital' replied Sakura

'It wasn't me that saved you, I was as powerless as you where, it was Naruto, it was also him that took you to the hospital' said Sasuke looking down

'Oh, is there any other reason you came by?' asked Sakura

'Actually yeah, I'm here to fill you in on some recent events' replied Sasuke

(A/N: I'm leaving this here and moving somewhere else, I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear the same story again and I sure as hell can't be arsed re-typing it)

* * *

What happened to Kakashi?:

He appeared in the main room of the Hyuga house in a poof of smoke as it cleared he could see Neji and Hiashi Hyuga but no-one else 'well it would appear that I'm a little late' he said stepping out of the smoke 'sorry for the intrusion Hiashi' he continued bowing

'You say it as though it's something unusual Kakashi, I have already spoken to both Sasuke and Naruto, I am hopeful that we will see a new age of co-operation and friendship between the clans, Naruto has been given the full backing of the Hyuga clan, I didn't tell him but this will include when it comes time for a new Hokage although I have a feeling he won't be the fifth Hokage although it would have been ironic if he had, oh and Kakashi please remember that you are always welcome here as long as you are using the doors' replied Hiashi

'Right sorry about that, and thank you for your assistance to Naruto, I'm sure my Sensei would be thanking you as well if he where here, I'll be going now, you wouldn't happen to know where Naruto or Sasuke went would you?' Asked Kakashi

'Actually I would, Sasuke has gone to find Sakura and tell her what's happened and Naruto took my daughter to lunch, I think they make a wonderful couple' Hiashi said with a knowing look to Kakashi

'Thank you again for all your help Hiashi, I think I'll go find Sasuke and Sakura' said Kakashi before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

* * *

Did you forget about Shikamaru? Well I didn't, now to see what he got up to:

'Man where the hell could Asuma-Sensei be?' he muttered jumping from rooftop to rooftop 'Oh well, might as well go and find Ino and Choji and tell them what's happened' he said changing his direction and heading for the flower shop that Inos parents owned.

Arriving at the flower shop Shikamaru went in, he saw Ino in the far corner arranging roses in a vase 'Hey Ino, listen can you spare some time we need to find Choji, I've got something I need to tell you both?' he asked

'Sure Shikamaru' Ino said 'MOM, I'M TAKING OFF FOR A WHILE' she shouted

'Alright, see you later' they heard from the back of the shop, then they walked out into the street

'Now let's go and find Choji, any idea where he is?' asked Shikamaru

'As a matter of fact, I do, he's at the big beef grill restaurant with his Dad' Replied Ino

'OK, shoulda known that you'd know, OK lets go get him' said Shikamaru, Ino nodded and they jumped onto the rooftops and away.

* * *

Back to Naruto and Hinata;

They walked out of the restaurant and were greeted by an ANBU black ops squad

'Naruto Uzumaki, you are to come with us and judging by the difference in appearance of your eyes Miss Hyuga, I think it would be best if you came along as well, don't worry about Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru we've dispatched teams to pick them up too, the third Hokage wishes to see you' said the leader wearing a squirrel mask

'Very well, let's go then' said Naruto, then he Hinata and the 4 ANBU members moved off to the Hokages tower at great speed

* * *

5 minutes later

Naruto and Hinata walked along the corridor to the Hokages office, as they arrived the three sand ninja emerged wearing leaf head protectors were their sand ones had been

'So the three of you are part of Konoha now, that's good, hopefully see you around later Temari, Kankuro, Gaara' said Naruto

'Yes we are, and I think we shall definitely be seeing each other' said Gaara in a voice that had a strange hint of happiness to it to which his siblings where quite surprised to hear, they then carried on and Naruto and Hinata walked into the Hokages office

'Ah Naruto, I'm glad that you've finally been able to awaken your clans legendary abilities, as you saw even Orochimaru is sacred of them, I also see that you have enhanced Hinatas Byakugan and I understand you have enhanced Nejis Byakugan and even Sasukes Sharingan to Mangekyo Sharingan, I intend to inform the village of what you have done and the Kekkei Genkai you have' said the Third

'No don't tell the village, it might not be fair on the rest but it's more trouble than it's worth for me, if they heard I had even had a hand in defeating Orochimaru they would immediately think that the fox was starting to take control of me, no I'd prefer the village not know I had anything to do with it and besides Haishi has given be the backing of the Hyuga clan so that should make life a little easier' replied Naruto, during the course of the conversation Hinata had moved forward and to the side of Naruto and by the end of it was holding his hand, the third had noticed this, but taking what Naruto had just said into account he realised that chances were that Haishi would actually be very pleased with this

'Very well then Naruto, the village will not be told, now all that remains is for the rest to arrive' said the Third

* * *

With Sasuke and Sakura:

Sasuke had just finished telling Sakura everything that had happened, he had also switched his Mangekyo Sharingan off 'So Naruto has a Kekkei Genkai, your Sharingan has been advanced to a higher stage of it called Mangekyo Sharingan by Naruto and he has also enhanced Neji and Hinatas Byakugan' Sakura was repeating what Sasuke had just told her in short to make sure she had heard him right

'Yes' said Sasuke, just then Kakashi appeared in front of them

'Well, I finally found you, Sasuke I hear Naruto activated your Mangekyo Sharingan and that his Fuengan is active too, is that right?' asked Kakashi to which Sasukes only reply was to look him in the eye and activate his Mangekyo Sharingan

'OK so I heard right then' said Kakashi, then 3 ANBU appeared

'Kakashi-Senpai, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno please come with us the Hokage wishes to see you' said the ANBU wearing a rabbit mask

'Alright, let's get going then' said Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke stood up and then the 2 genin and 4 ANBU disappeared

* * *

To Shikamaru:

'No way so Naruto has a Kekkei Genkai and is now even more powerful than Sasuke or Neji, I can't believe that Shikamaru' said Ino

'That Naruto, he sure is something' said Choji, just then 4 ANBU appeared around them

'Shikamaru Nara have you told these 2 about what has happened?' asked one of the ANBU

'Yes' replied Shikamaru

'Very well then, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka you are to come with us' said the ANBU

'Alright let's go see what the Sandaime wants' said Shikamaru and with that they all disappeared

* * *

10 minutes later in the Hokages office

'Now that everyone has been assembled, first and foremost, Naruto has asked that the exact details of these incidents remain hidden because as you all know he contains the spirit of the nine tailed fox and many of the older villagers can only see the demon and not the Naruto we all know, as such I would like ask if anyone here would have an objection to me doing the same thing as when the four genin teams were assembled here to be told of the demon within Naruto' said the Hokage thinking back to that day just after the completion of the forest part of the chunin exams

_**Flash back begins**_

_The Senseis had finished congratulating their teams on passing the chunin exams so far, then they each brought their teams to the Hokages office_

'_Now there is a very good reason why you've all been brought here, it is in regards to Naruto Uzumaki, what I'm about to tell you does not leave this room, all of your Senseis have agreed that knowing this will not affect how you treat him, and this information is classified as S-class' said the Hokage very solemnly looking at the genin assembled before him, including a very worried looking Naruto at the back_

'_As you all know 12 years ago the nine tailed fox attacked this village, you were told that it was defeated and led to believe that it had been killed, that is not entirely true, yes it was defeated at the cost of the Fourth Hokages life but it could not be destroyed, instead it was sealed within the body of a new born child, it was the Fourths wish that this child like himself would be treated like a hero, however the people of the village did not hold to his wishes instead only seeing the demon instead of the child, that child is Naruto' said the third, all of the genin except Naruto looked shocked, Naruto hung his head expecting to see the same stares of hatred and disgust as he saw from the rest of the village, then he felt something he hadn't expected, a hand resting on his shoulder, he looked up_

'_You know Naruto, we already know you couldn't be the demon with in you, after all I doubt a demon would have such an aptitude for practical jokes' said Sasuke, the looks on the rest of the faces in the room, emulated the same sentiments, you are our friend and comrade, we will not fail you when you need us most_

'_Thank you all, I am glad to see that I have made the right decision in telling you' said the Hokage_

_**End flash back**_

'No Lord Hokage I don't think anyone here would have any objections, we have all seen the looks the villagers give him and have often heard him be referred to as the demon brat and this to them would only confirm their suspicions' said Neji

'Yes I think that this should also be an S-class secret, we'll leave it to you to decide the cover story' said Shikamaru

'But what about Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, Ten-Ten and Bushy-Brows? They should be told as well' said Naruto

'Very well Naruto, the arrangements will be made for them to be informed of the events and the details of their classification' said the Third 'Now you may all go, except you Naruto I need to speak to you' he finished, then all except Naruto, Hinata and Kakashi left the room

'I see' said the Hokage 'Very well then I will inform you as well, Jiriaya' said the Third and the Sannin appeared next to him

'Yes Sensei' said Jiriaya

'Now then, I have decided that it is once again time I retired and I believe that Tsunade would be the best person to take over the position of Hokage' said Sarutobi

'But Lord Hokage we have no idea where she is' said Kakashi

'That's why I want Jiriaya to take Naruto and go and look for her, you have 2 weeks' said the hokage

'I have one request, I want Hinata to come with us as well' said Naruto, the Third seemed to think about this for a few moments

'Very well then, take her as well, and Jiriaya she's a Hyuga so treat her well' said Sarutobi

'Understood Sarutobi-Sensei' said the Sannin, he then turned to Naruto and Hinata 'You 2 go home and get packed, meet me at the front gate in 2 hours' he said to the genin

'OK Ero-Sennin, let's go Hinata' said Naruto

'WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT CALLING ME THAT' screamed the Sannin to Naruto and Hinatas backs

'Take care of him Jiriaya, I'm counting on you to look after your students legacy' said Kakashi before vanishing

* * *

Outside the Hokages tower:

Naruto and Hinata were walking away from the tower and heading for the Hyuga compound

'So if we go and collect your things and then go and get mine' said Naruto

'OK N-Naruto' said Hinata

* * *

And this is where we finish this chapter. No poll for this one, still waiting on sufficient votes from the last pole

Next chapter: The search begins, Summoning jutsu, New techniques, Powerful seals, Enter Akatsuki: Chapter 3 - Realigning the Future

I think that's more than enough info, if I carry on I might as well just put the next chapter in here instead


	3. Realigning the Future

Power – Redefined

Chapter 3 – Realigning the Future

A special New Years update, albeit a tad late

* * *

'Well Haishi, I think I better explain what's happening whilst Hinata collects what she needs' said Naruto kneeling in front of the of the Hyuga head 'The Hokage has asked that I accompany the Ero-Sennin Jiriaya to find Lady Tsunade and ask her to be the next Hokage and I have requested that Hinata accompany us' he explained

'Very well then, I assume that he intends to teach you something along the way, will Hinata also be allowed to learn it if she can?' asked Haishi, concerned that Hinata would be going along for no reason other than to keep Naruto company and would miss out on an opportunity to train, although when he thought about it, Naruto would train on his own if need be and likely would have Hinata train with him which would help her gain more skill with the new Byakugan, he still didn't know what it was called, he made a mental note to ask Naruto at a later time

'Even if he won't train her himself I'll train with her and do my best to teach her any techniques he teaches me' said Naruto hoping that it would be enough

"How would you like Hinata to be able to summon foxes, I'm sure that damn pervert would try and make her sign the contract for toads if she doesn't" said the voice

"Yeah I think that would be a good idea, but that's only if she wants to sign it, so how would I go about it?" asked Naruto

"Don't worry about it now, I'll tell you when we get to your flat" said the voice

'Alright then, please take care of her Naruto' said Haishi

'Of Course Sir' replied Naruto bowing, just then Hinata came into the room

'I'm ready to go Naruto, goodbye father' she said

'Have a safe trip' replied Haishi, then the two genin bowed and left

* * *

'Welcome to my home Hinata' said Naruto as he opened the door, he's apartment was spotless, of course that was because after Hinata had gone in to get her things on his way to speak to Haishi, Naruto had created a shadow clone and sent it to clean his apartment, when it arrived it created another 4 shadow clones and they quickly got to work making sure that it was clean and tidy, he didn't want Hinata to see his home in its usual state

'It's nice Naruto' said Hinata, Naruto sighing mentally that his clones had done a good enough job and she liked it, he resolved to make sure that it wouldn't get into that state again

'I'm glad you like it Hinata' replied Naruto moving towards his bedroom to pack his things

'Em Naruto…' said Hinata, Naruto thinking that she wanted somewhere to sit and wait for him cut in before she continued

'If you go through the second door there's a sofa you can sit on' he said

'Actually Naruto…' said Hinata blushing lightly and tapping her extended index fingers together, Naruto looked out of his room

'What is it Hinata?' he asked, Hinata was struggling but decided that since he was the one that had basically asked her on their first date she would take a chance

'Are we going out now?' she asked turning a shade of red previously only seen on tomatoes

'If that's what you want Hinata' said Naruto turning back into his room to continue collecting his things before hearing a loud thud from his hallway, he looked out again to see that Hinata had fainted again so he walked into the hallway, picked her up bridal style and then carried her back into his room gently laying her his bed before continuing to collect his things, they still had around an hour so he was in no rush to wake her before he was ready to go.

5 minutes later Hinata woke up, not quite sure where she was, then she remembered asking Naruto if they where going out and then on remembering his reply she once again blushed the red of a tomato, but didn't faint, she decided it best to find out where she was since she was quite sure she wasn't still in the hall, upon realising that she was laying on a bed and promptly putting 2 and 2 together and realising it was in fact Narutos bed she promptly fainted again.

"So how do I let Hinata sign the summoning contract for foxes?" asked Naruto

"Simple, write the kanji for white fox on your left arm, I'm going to give her a slightly different one to yours, you can summon any kind of fox, even the black and the water-based blue foxes to your aid but Hinata is going to be able to summon white and blue foxes, they aren't as powerful as the red or black in outright strength but they are faster and quicker to adapt to match what the summoner needs them for as well as being some what more tactful than cunning" replied the voice, Naruto did as he was told and wrote the kanji for white fox on his left arm

"Now what?" he asked

"Normally to create a summoning contract you would need a drop of blood from the kind of animal for the contract but since I am god of the foxes and my blood is mixed within your veins by merely smearing your own blood on the kanji you can summon any kind of contract that I choose to give you, in this case it will be for both the white and blue foxes" said the voice, Naruto then bit his thumb and smeared his blood across the kanji he had put on his arm, a poof of white smoke appeared and when it cleared the kanji on his arm was gone and on the floor under his arm was a scroll, it was bigger than an average scroll but not as big as the toad summoning scroll Jiriaya carried

Around 10 minutes later Naruto had finished packing and was ready to go all that was left was to wake Hinata, trying to think of the best way to wake her up he didn't think that she'd be happy being slapped or soaked and he no longer thought that shaking her was a very good idea either, then the strangest idea (at least to him) came to him, he decided to kiss Hinata and so he kneeled down next to the bed, leant over and kissed Hinata on the lips holding it.

Hinata awoke feeling some one kissing her, she didn't open her eyes immediately, she hoped it wasn't a dream, then her mind ran through last few events and she opened her eyes wide in shock it was then she realised that it was in fact Naruto kissing her, she felt her face once again glow red, but to her surprise she didn't faint, she slowly closed her eyes again and returned the kiss. After realising that Hinata was awake and returning the kiss Naruto held the kiss a little longer and then he pulled away looking down on Hinata, the blush now only lightly gracing her cheeks

'Thank you Naruto, that was the best wake up I've ever had' said Hinata her eyes still closed

'You're welcome, listen how would you like to be able to summon creatures?' said Naruto helping Hinata to sit up on the bed with her legs hanging of the side

'What kind of creatures Naruto?' asked Hinata

'White and blue foxes' said Naruto

'O-OK, h-h-how?' asked Hinata

'Just sign your name in blood on this scroll and then put blood on your hand and do these hand seals, slam your hand on the floor and say summoning jutsu' said Naruto performing the jutsu slowly so that Hinata could see it, then there was a poof of white smoke and a white fox with a black tips on it's tail and ears around the same size as Akamaru appeared

'Hey, I'm Byakko' said the fox; its voice was light and quite high

'I-I-it's so c-c-cute' said Hinata softly

'I like you' said Byakko to Hinata

'N-N-Naruto, let me sign the contract' said Hinata, Naruto then lifted up the contract and unrolled it on the bed, Hinata bit her thumb and signed her name where Naruto pointed to on the contract

'OK, now you try summoning Byakko' said Naruto as the fox disappeared, Hinata then smeared blood on her palm as Naruto had done and went through the seals then put her hand on the bed and a poof of smoke appeared again

'I'm ba-acckk' said the small fox in a sing-song manner

'Wow, I did it Naruto' said Hinata happily

'Well done Hinata' said Naruto hugging her, this caused her to blush crimson, but to her surprise she didn't faint

'Come on, I need to collect a few supplies before we need to go and meet Ero-Sennin' said Naruto as he stood up and stretched out his hand to help Hinata up off the bed, Hinata accepted Narutos waiting hand getting up off the bed, returned Byakko to the summoning plane and walking with Naruto to the front door they picked up their bags, put their sandals on and walked out the front door.

* * *

One hour later at the main gate:

'Where is he, he's almost as bad as Kakashi-Sensei' said Naruto standing next to Hinata holding her hand

'I'm sure there's a good reason why he's late Naruto' said Hinata quietly

'I doubt it, probably peeping on girls' said Naruto, he then activated his Fuengan and used the Byakugan part to look for the toad sage, as he was looking around something caught his attention, but he couldn't quite see it even with the Byakugan, it had looked like someone who was invisible and suppressing their chakra, he decided to double check so he activated his infra-red vision and checked the same place and sure as day he saw the outline of Jiriaya radiating heat and walking towards them.

A minute or so later he watched as Jiriaya walked past them

'What are you trying to do Ero-Sennin' said Naruto sounding anything but amused, Jiriaya was stunned he knew even the Hyugas Byakugan could only barely see him with his invisibility jutsu on so Hinata shouldn't have been able to see him, then he remembered that Naruto now had the Fuengan and realised that was why he hadn't been able to sneak past, he could hide is chakra but not his heat

'Should've known better than to try and sneak by a Fuengan user' said Jiriaya, standing with one hand scratching the back of his head

'Yeah you should have' said Naruto

'Sorry to keep you waiting, now before we go have either of you ever trained with weights before?' asked Jiriaya

'No Ero-Sennin' said Naruto a little confused, Hinata just shook her head

'Alright then well starting now you will be, you will each carry 5Kgs on each limb to begin with and I'll increase to weights as and when I see fit, you will also wear these vests, they absorb chakra so you can't use it to help you carry to weights, Hinata you will ware one and Naruto will wear three' said Jiriaya pulling four black vests and eight weight bands out of his bag

'How come I have to wear more vests?' moaned Naruto

'Because you have a higher chakra capacity than anyone else your age so this balances it out' said Jiriaya, Naruto and Hinata then took their Jackets off and put the vests on and then the wrist weights, then they put the ankle weights on

'OK Ero-Sennin, we're done, now lets get going' said Naruto impatiently, and with that they set off along the road

* * *

Half an hour later:

'So Ero-Sennin when are you going to teach us some new jutsus?' asked Naruto

'We're going to start with some basic techniques, starting with the one I was using when I arrived at the main gate, it's an invisibility jutsu that's excellent for sneaking around and gathering information' said Jiriaya

'Why would we want to learn that?' asked Naruto, unsure about the true motives of the techniques creation, he did understand how it COULD be useful, just not to him

'Because Naruto, you need to learn the other elements of being a ninja, yes so far your strategy of hit-it-till-it-breaks has worked so far but that will not always be the case, it also makes it easy to escape to recover as well as to sneak up on enemy shinobi even in the middle of battle if timed correctly with some other event you can make them think that you've put them in a genjutsu even though you haven't' Jiriaya informed them

'So how do we do it Ero-Sennin?' asked Naruto activating the Sharingan part of the Fuengan, Jiriaya then performed 3 hand seals in quick succession and disappeared from view, with the Sharingan abilities active Naruto could easily replicate the technique and did so to prove it

'Not bad Naruto, but Hinata activate your Byakugan' said Jiriaya

'OK' said Hinata activating her Kekkei Genkai

'Now Hinata, who can you see?' asked Jiriaya smiling

'I can see Naruto clearly' said Hinata

'And what about me?' asked Jiriaya

'I can see you but only just Ero-Sennin' said Hinata softly

'ARGH, YOU TOLD HER TO CALL ME THAT DIDN'T YOU NARUTO' screamed Jiriaya

'Of course Ero-Sennin, it is the truth after all' Naruto said, his trademark smile on his face

'Anyway, as Hinata said, you can do the jutsu itself, but you haven't mastered the rest of the jutsu, in order to get the full potential from this jutsu you need to be able to suppress your chakra whilst maintaining the jutsu, otherwise even though you are invisible it is still possible for people like Hinata and Sasuke to see you, and others that can sense chakra with more ease can find your position, as it happens I have a task for both of you to help with this' said Jiriaya deactivating the jutsu, he then pulled out 2 water balloons

'What are they for?' asked Naruto deactivating the jutsu himself and looking a little lost

'This is the first stage in learning a technique left for us by the Fourth Hokage, you need to spin your chakra to pop the balloon' said Jiriaya handing them each a water balloon

'OK, well that sounds simple enough' replied Naruto, brimming with confidence as usual

'Then it shouldn't take too long then, now come on you can practice whilst we walk' said Jiriaya starting to walk off down the road, Naruto and Hinata followed soon after, each starting to try and burst the water balloon by spinning the water with their chakra, it was slightly easier for them as they could both see the chakra moving around in the balloon but they still found it difficult to get the balloon to burst

'Damn it I can't get it to burst, hey Ero-Sennin why don't you show us how to do it?' asked Naruto

'What with your abilities, no way, it would be way to easy for you to see how to do it and just copy it, you would be able to do it right' said Jiriaya looking back over his shoulder

'What do you mean of course we'd do it right, and how are we supposed to be able to get anywhere near it, if we don't know what it is we're trying to do' whined Naruto

'No you wouldn't because your chakra control isn't good enough, this will teach you as well as help you with your other jutsu, in fact I have an idea, both of you lift up your tops and show me your stomachs' said Jiriaya, both genin looked a little confused but complied, Hinata blushing heavily, Jiriaya then created the 5 pointed seal that he had previously removed from Naruto in both hands and used it on them

'What did you do to us Ero-Sennin?' asked Naruto

'I put a seal on you that will make it difficult to use chakra, it's the same one I took of you when I taught you to walk on water' replied the Sannin

_**Enter Flashback**_

_Naruto got up from the bushes he had been thrown into and walked back over to the old man_

'_What did you do that for?' he asked_

'_Try walking on water now' replied the old man, Naruto was sceptical but complied_

'_Hey I can do it' he shouted jumping up and down on the water_

_He walked back to the bank after calming down_

'_Hey Ero-Sennin, what did you do?' asked Naruto_

'_HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT MY NAME IS JIRIAYA' shouted the man 'Anyway, around the seal that regulated the demons chakra going into your body I noticed another seal designed to disrupt it making it hard for you to control it's charka and your own, my guess is it was put there by a man called Orochimaru' replied Jiriaya_

'_Oh so that's what he did. Hey how do you know Orochimaru?' said Naruto_

'_He's a Sannin like me, there are only 3 Sannin, we where all team mates at one time trained by the Hokage so of course I'm going to know him' replied the Sannin_

_**Exit Flashback**_

'WHAT! WHY HAVE YOU PUT THAT ON US?!' Screamed Naruto

'Because if you master this technique whilst you are restrained by it when your done your chakra control will be excellent' replied Jiriaya

'Makes sense I guess but I still don't like it' moaned Naruto

'Now come on and keep practising, if you can make it to the second stage in 2 days I'll take it off' said Jiriaya, he wasn't sure whether he actually would or wouldn't yet, but at least if Naruto had a target to work at he would mange with more easy

'Alright, I'll be done by this time tomorrow' said Naruto brimming with confidence, Hinata blushed, admiring his confidence and deciding that she would try and do it at least as quickly if not quicker in hopes that he would recognise her, having not quite allowed herself to believe that he actually cared for her yet.

* * *

That evening

They had arrived at their destination earlier on that night, Naruto had managed to persuade Jiriaya (bribed of course) AND Hinata that it would be fine if they shared a room but had also agreed that it should be a twin, not a double, that night he and Hinata had continued to practise the jutsu whilst Jiriaya had gone out to find information on Tsunade and conduct some cough research cough. They where getting closer to the point they had really started at before Jiriaya put the seals on them.

"Hey kid" said the voice

"What is it?" asked Naruto

"Just thought you'd want to know that if we get into trouble I'll be able to negate the effects of the seal but only for about 20 minutes so we'd have to finish it up quickly" said the voice

"Glad to hear it, I have to protect Hinata, whilst you're here any guesses as to what the technique is or how to do it?" asked Naruto

"Yes on both counts but I believe that Ero-Sennin was correct in his decision, this will be a far better way, as far as I know it's similar to the method the Fourth first used to create it in the first place, and before you ask yes I do know what it looks like and how it's done, when you're a demon you kinda learn those things when you see an attack being used on you" replied the voice

"OK well thanks anyway" said Naruto

* * *

The neat morning: Konoha

Two figures wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them and straw hats one with something wrapped in bandages on his back walked into Konoha, apparently using a henge and false papers to gain access. As they walked by the river flowing through Konoha their path was blocked by 2 Jonin, Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuuhi

'Well now who do we have here?' asked Asuma

'Looks like a couple of trouble makers, what's your business back in Konoha, Itachi Uchiha?' said Kurenai

'That is not your concern' replied Itachi dispelling his henge, then the second person walked forward 'No, we are not here for a confrontation Kisame' he said to his companion

'Well now, Kisame Hoshigaki, one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist, listed in the bingo book for assassination and attempted treason' said Asuma

'That is also not your concern, if you leave us be we shall cause no trouble, I am here purely for, reminisce sake' stated Itachi

'Somehow I find that very hard to believe' said Asuma as he and Kurenai dropped into stances ready for battle

'I can see we're going to have to do this the hard way' said Itachi; just then 2 squads of ANBU and Kakashi appeared around them

'Itachi Uchiha, you and your companion are to come with us, and powerful as you may be I doubt that you could manage to take us all down or flee from us all' said Kakashi

'Very well then' said Itachi and with that they left

* * *

Half an hour later

Kurenai and Asuma are sitting in Kakashis apartment whilst Kakashi lies unconscious in the bed, then the door opens and Sasuke walks in

'What happened to him, he's supposed to be training me?' demanded Sasuke, just then a Chunin ran in

'I heard that Itachi Uchiha came back and he's after Naruto Uzamaki, is that right?' he asked quickly before checking who was in the room. Sasukes eyed shot wide open whilst Asuma and Kurenai quickly looked at the Chunin narrowing they're own

'You heard right' said Asuma knowing that Sasuke would know if he was lying with the Sharingan even if the Chunin didn't, half a second later Sasuke was out the door and heading for the town that he knew Naruto, Hinata and Jiriaya where going to stop in first

'Great, now go and tell Guy what just happened here he's going to need to go after Sasuke' said Asuma, and with that the Chunin immediately turned and ran out the door in search of Guy.

* * *

2 hours later

Hinata and Naruto are in the hotel practising the technique; their progress has been slow but steady. A sudden knock on the door disturbs them from their practice.

'You keep practising Hinata, I'll answer the door' said Naruto getting up, Hinata then resumed her practise, another knock on the door

'Alright, alright I'm coming' said Naruto 'Damn Ero-Sennin' he muttered under his breath, he got to the door and opened it but to his surprise it was not Jiriaya standing in front of him but 2 men, one that looked like he could be an older version of Sasuke and another who looked very strange to Naruto, with blue skin no apparent nose and two V's under each eye, his eyes where a little like Hinatas had been before he changed them but instead of being a sort of cream with no pupils they where white with very small pupils and his teeth where showing even though his mouth was closed, strange large triangular teeth

'Naruto Uzamaki, come with us' said the one that looked like Sasuke

'And why should I do that?' replied Naruto "yep he's just as I thought, stubborn and mouthy" thought Itachi but Itachi was prevented from any more thoughts by a familiar voice shouting at him

'ITACHI, I'M HERE TO KILL YOU, I'VE LIVED MY LIFE JUST AS YOU SAID, FILLED WITH HATE, ANGER AND RAGE AT YOU' shouted Sasuke charging up his chidori he then ran at Itachi "Foolish" thought Itachi as Sasuke reached him and he easily defected the attack sending it through the wall and throwing Sasuke away, Naruto then moved to attack Itachi

'Stay out of this, it's their fight' said the other guy putting something resembling a sword wrapped in bandages in Narutos way

'Stay out of this Naruto, I'll kill him myself' Shouted Sasuke charging at Itachi again this time wielding a kunai, this time Itachi grabbed his arm and pulled it across him, he then kneed Sasuke in the gut, let go of him and before he could even start to fall round housed him into the wall, Jiriaya then broke through the wall on the other side of the guy with the sword

'It seems I got here just in time, I got a message from Konoha that you two had come after Naruto and Sasuke was chasing after Itachi' said the Sannin

'Well lets leave the brothers to it, wouldn't want to disrupt their reunion now would we' said the other guy

'I guess not Kisame Hoshigaki' said Jiriaya, although his face and body language showed that given half a chance he'd be through and helping the genin

Itachi walked up to Sasuke who was slowly standing up after hitting the wall and falling to the floor he then grabbed his shirt collar and lifted him up switching his eyes to Mangekyo Sharingan he got Tsukuyomi ready so that as soon as Sasuke opened his eyes he would be caught in the Genjutsu, Sasuke opened his eyes, Itachi was shocked but had no time to stop the technique when he realised that Sasuke was also using the Mangekyo Sharingan but his was different.

They appeared in the warped world of Tsukuyomi but instead of seeing the Sasuke he had originally left in Konoha as he was supposed to he instead saw the Sasuke he had been fighting against

'Well it would seem you also have the Mangekyo Sharingan, but what I'd like to know is how did you get it?' inquired Itachi, Sasuke laughed

'Ever wondered where our Sharingan came from? You know as well as I do it wasn't written in the scrolls, it's a branch of the Fuengan Kekkei Genkai ever heard of it?' said Sasuke

'No I can't say I have' replied Itachi

'Well then why don't I tell you, it's the Kekkei Genkai of the Uzamaki Clan, Naruto managed to activate his, amongst it's abilities it is capable of enhancing both the Sharingan and the Byakugan, another thing the scrolls seem to be missing is that the Sharingan has a third stage and it can only be unlocked be the Fuengan, it's called Kageegan, but I haven't got it just yet, however my Mangekyo Sharingan is more than enough to match yours' said Sasuke

Meanwhile:

"I think it's time I gave some of the Sharingans more advanced techniques a shot" thought Naruto

'Hey ugly' called out Naruto

'What did you just call me?' said Kisame turning around; Naruto had prepared his version of Tsukuyomi: Kakeme as Kisame turned round Naruto looked straight into his eyes.

To Kisame the world went dark for a moment and then a different world seemed to form around him, it was hot and dry and whilst there was just enough light to see by he couldn't tell where it was coming from the sky was completely black

'What the hell did you do' seethed Kisame to the Naruto that materialised from the ground up in front of him

'Well since you work with Itachi and I already know he has Mangekyo Sharingan I take it your familiar at least in someway with its Tsukuyomi technique?' enquired Naruto

'Of course, not that I've ever been daft enough to get on the receiving end of it' replied Kisame

'Well this is an even more powerful version of that, it's called Kakeme' stated Naruto

'Yeah right and how would you be able to use a Sharingan technique' said Kisame preparing to dispel what he thought was simple Genjutsu

'I told you it's not a Sharingan technique as such but a more powerful technique, after all that's what you'd expect from the Kekkei Genkai the Sharingan came from, the Fuengan' said Naruto Calmly

'No way, you mean I'm trapped in a technique even more devastating than the Mangekyos Tsukuyomi' Cried Kisame

'YES' Shouted Naruto, at that moment a 10foot long spear impaled Kisame through his left shoulder running straight down, out of his foot and into the floor with only 2 and a half feet still showing out of the 6"6' person, then a second appeared on his right side and the process was repeated, again and again the spears where withdrawn and plunged into him

Outside the Genjutsus:

Hinata had stopped her practice and walked to the door, she was about to wave her hand in front of Narutos face to see if he was OK when Jiriaya called out

'Don't, he's taken Kisame into a powerful dojutsu that requires eye contact, Sasuke and Itachi are in one as well, the 2 are either the same one or very close' he said

'Oh, OK' said Hinata timidly looking over at Sasuke and Itachi "How on earth could it be taking so long though, Naruto must be give Kisame quite a hard time for it to take this long, but as far as I know from my talks with Naruto and Sasukes Fathers the only reason that I know of for Itachi and Sasuke to take so long is if Sasuke has the Mangekyo Sharingan as well and used it, it prevents the full effects of Tsukuyomi and increases the time it takes" thought Jiriaya, shuddering at the thought of being in the world created by Kakeme, he had been a victim of it once before thanks to Narutos Father, he almost felt sorry for Kisame being in that world.

At the same time in both dojutsus:

'Time we left' said Naruto and Sasuke, again showing the level their teamwork had achieved

Instantly all four where back in reality, Kisame collapsed to one knee and then quickly jumped over to beside Itachi who was still next to Sasuke, both of which had doubled over in exhaustion

'Kisame we're going' said Itachi, quickly running at a wall and using a flying kick to knock straight through it Kisame following close behind.

'Naruto how can you use a technique more powerful than Tsukuyomi and not suffer from chakra depletion?' asked Sasuke kneeling on one knee and breathing heavily

'Believe me, I've used up more chakra than you have but another part of my families blood line, though it's not really considered a Kekkei Genkai 'cause you can't see it, is that we have very high chakra reserves, mine is higher than most Chunin and even some jonin and it's even higher if I tap into the demons' said Naruto, his trademark smile plastered across his face, Sasuke smiled back

'Well I guess you didn't really need me then' said Sasuke

'Like I'd take out Itachi, he's your brother and your problem' replied Naruto, still smiling, he walked over to Sasuke and bent down to help him up, Jiriaya followed him over and stood in front of them

'I have to say I'm very impressed with both of you, it took a lot of skill to be able to go up against those 2 and force them to retreat, I'm not sure it would have been the same if I hadn't been here but regardless, it's very impressive, I have a feeling that you 2 are going to be some of the strongest ninjas ever' said the Sannin, just then some one came flying in

'DYNAMIC ENTRY' shouted Guy, his foot was quickly deflected into a wall by Naruto

'Guy-Sensei, I suggest having a better look at who you're going to attack before attacking' said Naruto

'Sorry about that, all I could see using my forehead protector was 2 people next to a third who looked pretty beat up so I assumed the worst, I left my mirror at home' he replied pulling his foot out of the wall

"He normally carries a mirror" thought Jiriaya

"Hey kid, whatever you do, don't ware one of those green spandex things" said the voice

"Why not?" asked Naruto

"If you thought people didn't take you seriously before, then imagine how they'll treat you if you wore that, oh and on the subject of dress sense I think it would be a good idea to get some new clothes, I know you like these jumpsuits but the only things that shout 'LOOK I'M HERE KILL ME' more are fluorescent" said the voice

"I suppose your right, I guess we'll go look after this has been sorted out, might as well take Hinata too" Thought Naruto

'Alright right then Guy, I trust we can leave it to you to make sure that Sasuke gets back to Konoha safely' said Jiriaya

'Sure thing, we'll leave right away' said Guy, using his nice guy pose

'Well since that's sorted I think me and Hinata will go shopping' said Naruto walking over to the hole made by Itachi and jumping out of it

'R-R-right, c-c-coming' said Hinata running after him and following him out the hole

* * *

Erm I think this is long enough as is, don't want it to go on and on like the last one

No polls, for now I'm going to continue to refer to the fox as the voice, because I've only had 2 reviewers saying which one to use, if it helps my translation of Hirui is Unique

Next chapter: New styles, Camouflage; a new wave of ninja wear, First stage; Passed, Naruto vs. Tsunade: Chapter 4 - Changes


	4. Changes

Power – Redefined

Chapter 4 – Changes

The pole is closed and the decision I've made will be shown in chapter 6

* * *

Three hours later: Konoha

Guy and Sasuke walked into Kakashis apartment, Kakashi still lay Unconscious in bed and Asuma and Kurenai where in the same places they'd been when Sasuke left, Sasuke pulled up a chair next to his Senseis bed and Guy stood in the open door leaning with his back on the frame

'What happened?' asked Kurenai, surprised to see Sasuke back and fully conscious, she had expected him to be at least unconscious whether by Itachis hand when he attacked him or by Guys hand when he wouldn't come back to Konoha peacefully

'I'll let Sasuke fill you in on the details since I wasn't witness to it' said Guy, Asuma and Kurenai then looked at Sasuke expectantly

'I arrived to see Itachi and his accomplice standing at the door to Narutos room, I charged up a chidori and ran at Itachi, he easily deflected it and sent it through the wall, he then threw me back and I charged at him a second time, this time using a kunai and again he deflected it but this time he kept hold of my arm and kneed me in the gut, then sent me flying into a wall, walked over picked over and picked me up by the collar, I figured he was going to use a Mangekyo Sharingan technique called Tsukuyomi, I was right so when I opened my eyes we half cancelled each others jutsus out' said Sasuke, Asuma looked a little confused by this

'What do you mean, I thought it couldn't be cancelled out' said Kurenai

'Well it can't exactly be cancelled out, like I said it was only halfway, instead we entered the jutsu with neither having any control over it and neither willing to really concede, neither of use could use chakra so instead I explained what had happened but I chose what I said carefully, I did tell Itachi of the Fuengan and of the third stage of Sharingan, it's not mentioned in the scrolls of our clan, after I finished explaining to Itachi we both realised that the time distortion the jutsu usually creates to be most effective had been drastically slowed down and instead of it taking only a second or so it took quite a while, it would also seem that whilst me and Itachi where in Tsukuyomi Naruto had taken his accomplice into his version of it we all left the jutsus at the same time and then Itachi and his partner fled, most likely because of the large chakra drain and realising that if they suck around they would have to fight against both myself and Naruto, not that I would have been much good in truth, the chakra drain I suffered was immense but also against Jiriaya and Hinata which in their weakened state would've meant certain defeat' explained Sasuke

'I think it was shortly after that that I arrived, I tried to use my forehead protector to see through the hole in the wall but all I could see was one figure standing and another picking up one that was on the floor, so of course I assumed that Itachi and Kisame had gotten to Naruto and so I attacked, only to realise mid flight that I was going to hit Jiriaya, that however didn't happen as Naruto deflected my attack and sent my flying into a wall instead, that boy sure has gotten powerful' said Guy

'Well now, it seems a lot has happened in the time I've been out, tell me how long has it been?' asked Kakashi slowly raising himself to a sitting position

'Only about 5 hours Kakashi-Sensei' said Sasuke

'Well I'm going to need to rest up a little longer but I should be ready to resume training you first thing tomorrow Sasuke, in the mean time I suggest you go and revise the techniques of Mangekyo Sharingan and practise the ones you can, I think you'll find that animals will be quite susceptible to the effects of Tsukuyomi, first thing tomorrow we'll get to work on increasing your chakra capacity, if my guess is right Naruto seemed fine after using his technique correct?' said Kakashi, Sasuke was surprised

'Yeah, how did you know?' he asked

'I know a lot about his Kekkei Genkai and that his chakra capacity makes that of any person in this room seem like they've got almost none at all, add to that he's learning to tap into and harness the fox's power which gives him a near limitless chakra potential, if he can learn to harness it directly he'll never run out of chakra without even touching his own' explained Kakashi

* * *

A Men's clothes store in the town Naruto, Hinata and Jiriaya where staying in:

Naruto pulled back the curtain of the changing room he was in

'What do you think Hinata?' he asked, in the hour and a half they'd been there Hinata had hardly said a word, after about 30 minutes of trying on outfits Naruto had found the pattern to her blushes, if there wasn't a blush she didn't really like it, if there was a light blush it was as good as his normal jumpsuit, a heavy blush said it was better than his normal but still not great, if her entire face turned the shade of a tomato it was pretty good, if it turned crimson it was excellent and if she fainted Naruto went and bought it and asked that anything he bought as a set be delivered to his hotel room that night, then he would go and wake her up and tell her he decided to put it back, he wanted to surprise her with them.

'Erm N-N-Naruto haven't you got enough new clothes already?' she asked referring to the large pile of 20 or so articles (not including a further 9 he had already purchased) her face that lovely tomato colour telling Naruto that it was worth getting

'Nah, and besides after I've finished sorting out some new clothes for me we're going to go and get some for you' Replied Naruto instantly causing Hinatas blush to turn crimson and then shortly there after she fainted

"Well what do you think, they're completely different to what I normally wear?" Naruto asked

"They're great, with these you won't stick out so much, there is however one more store I think we should pay a visit to before we buy some for her, I noticed a store selling certain patterned clothes although I don't think they where designed to be camouflage there are 3 designs that will work perfectly, 1 for forest, 1 for desert and 1 for night, you virtually disappear in them, they'll be great for high risk times and special missions" replied the voice

"OK, well should I get some of them for Hinata as well?" asked Naruto

"Yes that would be a very good idea" replied the voice, Naruto then paid for the clothes he had selected and woke Hinata, they left the store and headed for the store that Naruto had noticed on their way to the previous store, once there Naruto found the 3 uniforms he had been told about and tried them on till he found suitable sizes

'Alright Hinata now you try and find some to fit you' said Naruto walking out of the changing room holding the 3 sets of clothes

'Huh? Why?' asked Hinata

'These suits are good camouflage, one makes you hard to see in a forest another works for desert and the last is good for night, they'll help keep you safe' replied Naruto

'O-OK' replied Hinata picking out some of the clothes, then she went into the changing rooms and came out wearing the forest suit, it was light and dark green and brown in apparently random slashes, but they where quite big, the trousers bunching up and folding over about 4 times at the bottom and the top and jacket came to halfway down her thighs

'No good Hinata, they need to be quite tight fitting otherwise they won't hide you properly' said Naruto, Hinata seemed very wary but went back in and changed again then she came out and selected smaller sizes, she then went in and tried them on again, then came out again

'What do you think?' she asked coming out again, this time wearing the desert style, it's 2 shades of yellow and third light brown colour in a dappled pattern as though someone had painted it be putting dots on it, this time the trousers only folded up once, the top dropped to about 2 inches below her crotch and the jacket was in the same place as before

'They're still too big Hinata, like I said they need to be quite tight fitting' said Naruto, Hinata looked a little saddened but pulled the curtain across and got changed again, she then came out and again got smaller sizes and came out again

'H-H-How's t-this N-N-Naruto?' she asked her face the colour of a tomato, this time she wore the night style, mostly black and dark grey with flashes of white and light grey in places, Narutos jaw dropped, she already had a great figure, with nice curves and her breast looked to about the size of Narutos palm but only as deep as his nail, still he knew they'd fill out and couldn't wait to see them, he mentally shook himself out of his trance

'Perfect Hinata, just right, they won't get in the way or give away your position and they show just what a great figure you have' said Naruto smiling, on hear Narutos compliment Hinatas face went from tomato to crimson, she was amazed she was still standing, Naruto just complimented her, then still blushing she pulled the curtain back across and got changed she then brought out the clothes and handed them to Naruto who then went and paid for them and they left the shop

'Where to now Naruto?' asked Hinata expecting them to go back to the hotel

'Now we're going to get you some new clothes, I'm going to buy them and you're not going to look at the price tags' said Naruto, Hinata was stunned

'Naruto you mustn't and even so I couldn't not look at the price tags if it's your money' said Hinata blushing heavily

'Promise me you won't look at the price of them Hinata, I want to buy you only what you want not what you want to get because it's not to expensive' said Naruto looking her straight in the eye

'O-OK, Naruto, I promise' said Hinata, she really didn't want to but something told her there was no getting around it, one way or another he would find a way to get her the ones she liked regardless of the cost, they carried on to a store that caught Hinatas eye and went in, she went through all the clothes in the store and to Narutos satisfaction did not check the price on a single item, she found several items that she liked the look of and tried them on, the second easily caught Narutos eye as he blushed furiously, it was a dress that whilst it wasn't very tight fitting it wasn't exactly loose either

'WOW, Hinata you are so beautiful, and that out fit really brings it out' he said smiling with his cheeks bright red from the blush, Hinata blushed heavily at the compliment

'Thank you Naruto' she said smiling and averting her eyes, whilst in the changing room she had noticed the price and even though she was a Hyuga and accustomed to expensive items she still thought it was a little pricey, she wouldn't have even let her father by it for her, but she had promised Naruto and she reminded herself that her nindo, her ninja way, was to never go back on her word and since Naruto knew the only ones she had picked out where ones she liked and it was quite apparent that she was comfortable in it she knew she was going to have to let him buy it, she tried on the last outfit and liked the way it felt, Naruto had managed to inspire a little more confidence in her with her comment when getting the camouflage and so she had picked something a little more tight fitting than she was used to wearing, Naruto thought it looked great too, so she gathered up the items and they walked to the counter, Naruto then paid for the items and they left.

* * *

3 hours later: the hotel room

Naruto opened the door and let Hinata in first, her eyes opened wide in surprise when she saw a couple of bags next to Narutos bed and a box sitting on her own

'Naruto what is this stuff?' she asked

'Well you remember the outfits I tried on at the first store that caused you to faint and when you came too I told you I put them back?' he asked in reply

'YYYes' she replied not really sure where he going, but she had her suspicions and hoped they where right

'Well I lied, I figured I'd leave it as a surprise, I bought them whilst you had fainted and asked that they deliver them here' said Naruto, smiling nervously with one hand behind his head, hearing this Hinata remembered a couple of the outfits and blushed crimson at the memory

'So you bought all of them?' she asked, Naruto nodded his head

'Yeah, so surprise' said Naruto still smiling, Hinata then looked at the box on her bed

'What's that Naruto?' she asked, not entirely sure she wanted to hear the answer

'Well I took a note of your sizes whilst paying for some of the things and decided to get you a little something special' said Naruto grinning sheepishly, Hinata walked over to her bed and looked at the box

'Can I open it?' she asked

'Please do' replied Naruto, Hinata then undid the red bow that held the lid on the sandy coloured box and carefully pulled then lid off, inside it was a kimono, she lifted it out and looked at the fox printed on left breast, then she turned it round and on the back was a larger fox with 4 tails in the shape of a circle, within the fox was a kanji that read 'Seiei' or The Chosen, and on seeing this Hinata promptly fainted, Naruto walked over to her and picked up the Kimono carefully putting it back in it's box and moved the box off the bed, then he gently picked Hinata up and laid her on the bed, he went and got a shower.

* * *

An hour later: still at the hotel room

Naruto had taken a shower and dried off, then had selected some new clothing to wear, his choice was a black t-shirt with a skull and kunai printed on it in red and black loose fitting trousers, he had also bought new shoes but didn't put any on, instead deciding that it was best if he got on with some training.

He sat on the floor and crossed his legs and summoned three clones the he produced 2 water balloons and whilst 2 clones got on with trying to burst the balloon using chakra, the third clone and the real Naruto, put the palms of their hands together and started working on chakra control.

* * *

Thirty minutes later: still in the hotel

Hinata was still lying unconscious on her bed and Naruto decided that it would be better if he woke her up, so dispersing his clones he got up slowly with the burst of knowledge generated by the clones and walked over to Hinatas bed, he kneeled down beside it and leaned over her, bending his head he gently pressed his lips to hers and kissed her softly, after a few moments Hinata awoke and started to return the kiss, Naruto slowly opened his mouth and brushed his tongue against her lips, she responded by opening her mouth and allowing his tongue to enter whilst lifting her arms up and wrapping them around him, after about a minute they broke the kiss but Hinata kept her arms around Naruto.

'You really do know the best way to wake me up gently don't you' she stated rather than queried

'Glad you like it and by your reaction I'd say you like my gift to you' he replied

'I do but I really wish you hadn't of got it for my, how did you find such a rare item as that?' she asked curiously, Naruto looked away sheepishly

'I didn't find it, like I said I took a note of your sizes whilst paying for things and had it custom made for you' he said blushing heavily, Hinata was shocked, her face flushed crimson as she realised that Naruto really did care for her, she knew how expensive things like that where, most ninja couldn't afford it if they only did C and D ranked missions, but she remembered Narutos team had been receiving a lot of back pay from they're escort mission in which they had come up against Zabuza Momochi, a powerful missing ninja from the hidden mist village whilst the original mission rank had been C it turned into an A rank quite quickly and Tazuna, the man they had been escorting, had agreed that if they helped him get home and protected him till the bridge was complete he and the village would be able to pay the costs for an A rank mission but couldn't do it unless the bridge was completed.

He had also been informed by the Hokage that because of his efforts in defeating both Orochimaru and Shukaku he would receive pay equal to that of an S rank mission and the other three that defeated Orochimaru with him would receive pay equal to an A rank mission so it made sense that he would be able to buy these things for her, much as he ate she knew his meals didn't cost all that much and since he was hardly ever in she suspected that he hardly need any electricity or gas, if he needed any gas at all, so with little cost in bills and food she realised that he had probably saved up quite a bit of money

'You really shouldn't have Naruto' she said still blushing heavily 'But thank you' she smiled warmly and hugged Naruto tightly, then both hers and Narutos stomachs growled

'Maybe we should go eat, in all the excitement we haven't eaten since this morning' said Naruto helping Hinata up off the bed, then they left the hotel and went looking for a place to eat, Hinata was expecting Naruto to choose but he once again surprised her

'So what do you want to eat?' he asked, she hadn't really given any thought to what she wanted, her thoughts had been to just let him choose and then work from there, she saw a restaurant that looked interesting

'I'm not sure, why don't we look and see what they have?' she said pointing to the restaurant

'Sure' said Naruto and they walked over to look at the menu, to the surprise of both of them it contained dishes from another country

'This isn't what we're used too, should we try to find something else that we know we like?' asked Hinata a little worried that they wouldn't like what they ordered

'Nope, I say we give it a shot' replied Naruto smiling, he then grabbed Hinatas hand and walked into the restaurant.

* * *

2 hours later: back at the hotel

There was a knock at their door, Naruto got up and answered it to find Jiriaya standing on the other side

'Now then Naruto, Hinata, I've found information regarding Tsunades location so we're heading off, I trust you're ready to go' said Jiriaya

'Finally, it's about time, come on Hinata lets get going' said Naruto picking up his bag, Hinata then followed suite and they left the room, went to the reception and paid then left.

* * *

3 hours later: on the a road towards where Jiriayas information says Tsunade might be

POP came from behind Jiriaya he quickly started to turn round when again POP he hastened his turn to see that both Narutos and Hinatas hands where wet and they where holding the remains of the balloons

'Here, do it again' he said handing them new water balloons, POP went both balloons at the same time, Jiriaya was surprised but carefully hid it

'Who popped it first?' he asked, Naruto looked at Hinata who was blushing lightly

'That was great Hinata, you beat me fair and square' said Naruto smiling, earning an even stronger blush from Hinata

'Yes, well done both of you, now then on to the second stage, and since it hasn't even taken you twenty four hours to master that one I'm going to leave those seals on you, believe me it will be worth it in the long run' said Jiriaya pulling out 2 small rubber balls

'What are these for?' asked Naruto looking at the ball with a confused expression on his face

'Try popping them the same way as you did with the balloons' said Jiriaya, then both Naruto and Hinata tried to pop the balloons but found they couldn't

'It won't work, we need to put more chakra in' said Hinata, Jiriaya smiled

'That's right, you're going to have to put more chakra into it but still maintain control of it to be able to burst these, it will help with your chakra capacity as well as your chakra control' said Jiriaya

"Here's another tip kid since he doesn't seem inclined to give it to you, you need to spin your chakra in more than one direction otherwise the final technique won't work" said the voice

"OK, thanks I'll tell Hinata when we get moving again" replied Naruto, Jiriaya then turned around and started walking again so Naruto moved over to Hinata and quietly spoke to her

'I think it will be easier to burst them if we spin our chakra in more than one direction, I'm going to try and manage as many directions as I can' said Naruto

'O-OK Naruto, I'll try that too' said Hinata, they then continued walking and caught up to Jiriaya

* * *

24 hours later: a small restaurant near their hotel

'OK so our old comrade came to see you yesterday and you say that both his arms where useless, any idea what happened to them?' asked Jiriaya, looking at the woman sitting across from him, she looked to be in her mid to late twenties with long blonde hair and a more than ample bust, next to her was a woman who look to be in her early twenties with short black hair and a more modest bust size in her lap was a small pig wearing a black waistcoat and a pearl necklace

'No, clue but it was no normal injury, they looked as though they where dieing from the inside out, I've never seen anything like it' replied the woman, taking a sip of sake from her cup

'What did he offer you Tsunade?' asked Jiriaya, the woman poured another cup of sake and drank it in one swallow before answering

'To revive Nawaki and Dan, in exchange for fixing his arms, I still can't imagine what could have caused it though' replied the woman

'I know what caused it' said Naruto, Tsunade looked sceptically at him

'I really doubt you do kid' she said, Naruto just smiled

'Well how does cutting off all the chakra points in the body right down to the chakra centre sound as way to do it?' said Naruto, Tsunade looked at him blankly and then burst out laughing

'There is no way that you could have done that, only a Hyuga would have any chance at that' said Tsunade breathing heavily

'Funny you should say that because it was a one Neji Hyuga that did the damage after he'd been trapped in a few layers of powerful genjutsu and Mangekyo Sharingans Tsukuyomi' said Naruto smiling, Tsunade looked at him curiously, she couldn't quite work out whether he was lying, joking or telling the truth

'He's telling the truth Tsunade, Naruto here and 3 other genin took out Orochimaru, of the other 3, 2 are considered highly gifted and the third is a true genius with an IQ of over 200' said Jiriaya seriously

'Oh really and who where these 3 great genin?' asked Tsunade

'Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha, Neji and Sasuke where both using more powerful forms of their Kekkei Genkai thanks to Naruto here, have a close look at Hinatas eyes too' said Jiriaya, Tsunade looked shocked, she then took a close look at Hinatas eyes and reeled back in shock

'Those eyes, they're Junkagan, I didn't know it was possible to get them, how did you get them girl?' demanded Tsunade, Hinata was a little upset at being called 'girl' and sitting next to Naruto gave her the courage to do something about it

'My name isn't girl, it's Hinata Hyuga thank you, and I got these eyes because Naruto strengthened my Byakugan' replied Hinata

'How did you manage to do that?' demanded Tsunade talking to Naruto, who simply closed his eyes and reopened them a moment later to reveal his Fuengan

'Because I'm an Uzumaki and I can use the Fuengan, my families Kekkei Genkai' said Naruto smiling, Tsunade was shocked, she looked at the bright blues eyes decorated with five stars and couldn't believe it, but she knew it wasn't a trick because she would have seen it in his eyes before if it where

'I thought the last of the Uzumakis died when the fox attacked 12 years ago' said Tsunade to Jiriaya

'Well the last was Naruto, who is now the jailer of the fox' replied Jiriaya

'You're the container of the Kyuubi no Yoko?' asked Tsunade shocked at the revelation, Naruto dropped his head slightly and Hinata wrapped her arm round his waist

'Yes I am and I intend to become Hokage to get the respect of the village' said Naruto, determination blatant in his voice, Hinata smiled and blushed lightly, always happy to see the boundless confidence and determination that Naruto had

'Ha, only a fool would take that position, after all every Hokage has died pointlessly' scoffed Tsunade

'Actually Tsunade we aren't here because Sarutobi-Sensei is dead, in fact he's very much alive thanks to Naruto' said Jiriaya

'I won't have any one disrespect the old man or the Fourth like that you old hag' said Naruto

'Oh really, lets take this outside then' said Tsunade standing up, Naruto followed suite and they walked out into the street followed by Jiriaya, Hinata, the black haired woman and the pig

* * *

'So you really think you can match me kid?' said Tsunade

'I don't think I can, I know I can' replied Naruto smiling

The next thing Tsunade knew Naruto was running at her with a kunai in hand, she swiftly dodged and kicked at him which he just barely avoided, then she took note of something, it was only just out of place and normally she wouldn't have noticed it being too wrapped up in the fight, but something in the back of her mind told her to look, the three ninja and the pig weren't moving, they were still looking at where she and Naruto had been, not where they were

"Damn it, he's already got me in a genjutsu" thought Tsunade, she quickly tried to dispel the genjutsu only for it to be replaced by Naruto and what she thought were 2 illusions charging at her, she quickly analysed her options, first one was likely to be a faint, typical of a genin, then the second or third would be the real one, best way to tell would be to throw a stone at each of the other 2, which ever it went threw was the illusion, she ignored the first and readied herself to kick a stone at each of the other 2 but never got the chance as the first one punched her and knocked her back several feet, then the second came in, again she expected it to pass straight through her and again she was hit and knocked back several feet

"Damn, how does he know the shadow clone technique, only one thing to do now and that's hit them all" she thought as the third came in for its attack, she moved back to avoid the punch and hit it straight in the gut causing it to poof into smoke, then another attack came out of the smoke and knocked her back again

"Shit, he's good, even Orochimaru never thought to use the smoke as a cover to attack again, it's so obvious it can't fail you don't even think of it till you've been hit" she thought moving back to avoid another strike

Back to back, back to reality (sorry couldn't resist)

Neither Naruto nor Tsunade had actually moved, Naruto was just standing smiling and Tsunade looked a hairs breadth from sleep

'What's happening?' asked the black haired woman

'Oh nothing much, Naruto's just got her caught in a genjutsu, my guess, she's got 2 or three layers to break through yet and when she's on the last layer Naruto will prepare an attack so that as soon as she breaks the last one he'll have the advantage' replied Jiriaya

'No way, he's that good with genjutsu?' asked the woman

'He doesn't have to be, it's part of his Kekkei Genkai' Jiriaya informed her

In the genjutsu

"Wait a minute, I've destroyed four clones already and I've not seen where they're coming from, this has too be another genjutsu how on earth, it's probably got another layer after this" thought Tsunade and quickly dispelled the genjutsu again, this time she was faced with five clones, she tried to dispel the genjutsu again but it didn't work

"No way, he only put up 2 layers, something's not right here" she thought

Meanwhile:

Naruto started charging up chakra in his right hand, spinning it faster and faster, adding various directions to it

"No way, he's advanced that far with it, I wonder if she's at the same level" thought Jiriaya glancing at Hinata, then Naruto started running forwards and broke the genjutsu himself, Tsunade only barley had enough time to get out of the way as he slammed it into the ground where she had been standing

'Hold on, Jiriaya your teaching him that technique, no wonder his head is filled with dreams of becoming Hokage, you know only you and the Fourth can use it' Said Tsunade rather miffed that Jiriaya was teaching him a technique that he knew the boy couldn't master

'He had those dreams already, and besides, he's gotten to that level in just 2 days, Hinata can you show me how far you've come?' asked Jiriaya handing her a rubber ball, she then focused her chakra and repeated the same process Naruto had and popped the ball

'That's what I thought, they've both made it that far in the same length of time, and they've got a chakra disturbing seal on them as well as wearing chakra absorbing vests and weights' said Jiriaya plainly

'It doesn't matter they still won't be able to master it' said Tsunade

'I'll master it in 3 days flat, no problem' said Naruto, Tsunade looked at him as though he should be taken away by the lovely men in white coats and locked in a nice padded cell (they're so much fun)

'How about we make a little wager then, I'll give you 5 days to master the technique, if you can do it I'll give you this necklace, once owned by my grandfather the First Hokage' said Tsunade, feeling pretty confident that there was no way Naruto could master the jutsu

'I don't really want the necklace but I'll take it anyway and if I win I also get to call you Baa-Chan, Oba-Chan and any other similar names I feel like' replied Naruto smiling broadly

'Fine, come on Shizune' said Tsunade walking away

'Bye' said Shizune quickly following after Tsunade, still carrying the little pig

* * *

Later that evening, Shizune came to Naruto and Hinatas hotel room and told them about the curse of the necklace.

'That may be the case Shizune but I know that's not going to happen to me' said Naruto, Shizune was shocked, she couldn't work out how he could be so confident

'How can you say that' she almost screamed, Naruto wasn't too surprised, he half expected that, Hinata was a little shocked though

'You said she would never bet it and yet for some reason she decided too and it wasn't just because she thinks it's impossible, something tells me she not only thought it might be possible but might also be likely, the First had no problem wearing it and nor does Tsunade, if my guess is right the necklace chooses it's wearer and I think that's why Tsunade chose to bet, either she thinks it will accept me or it influenced her because it has chosen me, regardless I intend to win that necklace' said Naruto smiling.

Shizune was shocked, she hadn't even given those possibilities a thought but when she thought about it the kid might actually be right, Tsunade wasn't know for making bets like this one and had never bet the necklace before, the last 2 people she had given it to, they hadn't done anything to earn it but Naruto was different he was going to earn it and, maybe the necklace did know and if he succeeded it would accept him because he had earned it rather than be given it and it was no easy feat to win the bet that Tsunade had laid down for him.

Shizune left the hotel room, things didn't really make sense anymore, Tsunade had done something she had never expected her too and now this boy, she could see that Tsunade saw something of her younger brother Nawaki in him, but he had also given her a lot to think about, she would never blame Tsunade for giving her uncle the necklace, she knew that Tsunade thought it would help him accomplish his dream but to think that Naruto may actually be right, for some reason that she couldn't quite explain even she was hoping he was right and now she was also willing him to win the bet.

* * *

I better finish this chapter here or it's going to go on and on and on, and I really don't want that

Next chapter: A Sannins confession, A new arrival, The plan, Naruto teaches Hinata something new, Rasengan: complete: Chapter 5 - Past, Present and Future


	5. Past, Present and Future

Power – Redefined

Chapter 5 – Past, Present and Future

I'd like to apologise now, I've re-read some of the previous chapters and I've realised that I really didn't proof read them very well, I hope to prevent that happening again. So if you see a typo in this or any future chapters tell me where it is and I'll fix it, Thanks for your help Deathdingle

I'm so far ahead I decided to give you all a bonus chapter for reading

* * *

The next 2 days were spent with Naruto and Hinata practicing the jutsu and Jiriaya watching Tsunade gamble whilst discussing a plan for taking on Orochimaru.

Third day, early morning: Jiriayas hotel room

'Hey Ero-Sennin, how exactly are we supposed to master it at all if we haven't even seen the final form?' whined Naruto

'True, I suppose I should really show you the completed form in action at least once, OK meet me at the woods outside of town in one hour' said Jiriaya

'Alright, see you there' replied Naruto running back to his and Hinatas room

* * *

Arriving at his and Hinatas room Naruto opened the door and was met with quite the sight, Hinata had just come back into the main room after taking a shower as both she and Naruto had expected it to take a while for him to convince Jiriaya to show them the jutsu, she was standing beside her bed wearing only a towel, it started just above her breasts and finished just below her crotch, the sight instantly caused Naruto to turn crimson, get a nose bleed and promptly pass out in the space of a split second, Hinata turned crimson, but managed to stay composed enough to quickly get dried and dressed BEFORE she checked to see if Naruto was alright, her first thought had been to quickly run over and check if he was alright, but in all likely hood, she realised, that would have most likely caused the towel to fall off and would probably mean she would wake Naruto for him to get a good view of her birthday suit, which she wasn't quite ready for.

Around 10 minutes later Hinata finally managed to wake Naruto, it took a further 5 minutes to stop his nose bleed due to the image still being fresh in his mind, then he remembered why he'd come back to the room

'Oh yeah, Hinata, Ero-Sennin said to meet him in the woods outside of town and he'll show us the jutsu, he said to meet him there in and hour but since I no longer have any idea how much time has passed I think we best go there now, we can practise as easily there as we can here' said Naruto

'OK Naruto' said Hinata they then left the room and headed for the woods

* * *

40 minutes later: the woods outside the town

'Hey Ero-Sennin, hurry up and show us this technique' said Naruto as Jiriaya came into view

'Alright, alright already, I'm coming' said Jiriaya

'Took your time' said Naruto

'Yeah well, now then the technique is very powerful and quite complex so listen carefully, it is created by spinning your chakra very quickly in a number of directions at the same time but the most important part of it is that in order to gain it's full potential you must be able to keep it in a small space and pack it with chakra, by making the chakra as compressed as possible it allows the final technique to plough through something without losing it's shape or it's power, watch' said Jiriaya, he quickly prepared a ball of spinning chakra in his right hand, but it seemed as though quite a lot of chakra was escaping, he then pushed it into the side of a tree, it created a small indentation in the tree and a swirl of damaged bark around it

'That's what happens when you use the Rasengan at the level you 2 are up to at the moment, this however is what the full version does' continued Jiriaya, this time forming another ball of chakra but this one was much denser, the chakra was spinning in more directions and it lost hardly any chakra, Naruto and Hinata both quickly activated they're Byakugan and watched carefully as Jiriaya thrust his arm forward into the same part of the tree but this time instead of quickly dissipating and doing only superficial damage to the tree it dug into the tree, cutting into it and easily through it before Jiriaya made it dissipate

'I trust you see the difference, now then if you practice the technique with these you'll be able to get it to full strength' said Jiriaya handing each of them 2 bags of balloons

'Huh, why do we need these Ero-Sennin?' asked Naruto rather confused

'STOP CALLING ME THAT' shouted Jiriaya 'Anyway, you need to create the Rasengan as you have with the water balloon and the rubber ball but this time instead of trying to pop it your trying to make it as powerful as possible without the balloon popping' he explained

'OK then, this should be easy' said Naruto 'And when are you going to take these seals off Ero-Sennin, you said you'd take 'em off if we could get to the second stage within 2 days and instead we completed the second stage in 2 days and you've still left them on?' whined Naruto, Jiriaya sighed he was going to have to let that one slide completely as he had completely forgotten about the seals and with Orochimaru coming back for an answer in just 3 days they where going to need them taken them off sooner rather than later to allow the 2 to adapt to their new chakra levels, as well as taking the weights and vests off the day before otherwise they'd have no chakra to fight with

'Alright lift up your shirts again' said Jiriaya preparing the counter seal on each hand, he then repeated the same procedure as he had with Naruto the first time and removed the seals, also sending both kids back 5 feet into a set of bushes

'Damn it Ero-Sennin, isn't there a better way to take them off?' asked Naruto as he dragged himself out of the bush he landed in, he then walked over to where Hinata had landed and helped her get out, Jiriaya sighed

'No, I'm afraid there isn't, now then I suggest you hurry up and get practising as you only have 2 days left to master it if you intend to win the bet' said Jiriaya as he turned and walked away.

Naruto and Hinata again started practising the Rasengan but found that they were in fact much further ahead than they thought they where, with the removal of the seals their chakra moulded easily and formed with much more power than it had been, but they still felt the drain of the weights and vests, but with new found chakra and determination they got to work on mastering the technique.

* * *

The next morning: Naruto and Hinatas hotel room

A knock on the door woke Hinata from what could only be described as a light slumber that's just trying to delay getting out of bed, she had slept very well and with having gotten a full nights rest had initially awoken around 20 minutes ago but unwilling to leave the comforts of the blankets she had instead drifted lightly in and out of sleep, annoyed she slowly dragged herself out of bed and walked to the door and opened it, to find Jiriaya on the other side

'Good morning Hinata' said the Sannin with a warm smile on his face

'Good morning Ero-Sennin' replied Hinata, Jiriaya decided that due to events past (that will not be detailed as they have no relevance to the story), she would be allowed to call him that, even if he was going to continually try and persuade Naruto to stop calling him that

'I have information for you, from today until I say otherwise both you and Naruto will not wear the vests, but I'm going to increase the weight you're carrying, in and emergency, and only an emergency, you may remove the weights, in 2 hours you and Naruto are to meet myself, Tsunade and Shizune at the restaurant 2 doors down from here, there we will go over the plan that me and Tsunade have devised to take on Orochimaru' said Jiriaya

'OK, but shouldn't I wake Naruto for you to tell him that too?' asked Hinata

'No, I want you to sort yourself out first then wake him up, whilst I will admit to enjoying my life, I will also admit that it is not the best road to take and ,wherever possible, I'd like to make sure that such temptations aren't there for him to experience, particularly now that he has you, it would be a mistake he would regret for a lifetime if he did something like that and it caused you to leave' Replied the Sannin, this surprised Hinata and she thought she heard some regret in his voice

'You sound like you speak from experience Jiriaya-Sensei' she said

'Yes, unfortunately I do, I've only had one opportunity and if it hadn't been for my antics I probably wouldn't have made such a mess of it, but that's in the past now, sort yourself out and pass on the message, I'll increase the weight now and I'll see you in 2 hours' said Jiriaya making three hand seals, Hinata instantly felt the extra weight on her limbs

'Thank you Jiriaya-Sensei, see you in 2 hours' replied Hinata, closing the door as the Sannin walked away.

Hinata then did as Jiriaya instructed and removed her chakra draining vest the weights slowing her down slightly as she still needed to get used to them, Naruto still blissfully ignorant of the weight increase away in sleepy land, she then sorted herself out, taking a shower and getting dressed in around half an hour and then woke Naruto up.

She then informed him of what Jiriaya had said, leaving nothing out, Naruto taking great note regarding the avoidance of Jiriayas own mistake and silently vowing to ensure he did not make that same mistake with Hinata, she then left to go and walk around for awhile to get used to the new weight she was having to carry, whilst she was a relatively skilled ninja, she lacked the physical strength to excel in taijutsu, which was fortunate as the gentle fist style of the Hyuga clan did not require great physical strength. Naruto sorted himself out and they met 45 minutes before they where due to meet Jiriaya, Tsunade and Shizune at the hotel restaurant to have breakfast.

* * *

Konoha: on top of the Hokage monument

A cloaked figure slowly emerged from the same tunnel as Naruto had just a few days prior, they stood around 6 feet tall but their true stature, whilst not massive was well hidden by the black cloak that shrouded them, the back of the cloak bore the Konoha insignia in white and the only other visible thing where the black ninja sandals they wore. The figure walked to the top of the Hokage monument and looked over the village.

'It's good to be home' said a light adult male voice to no-one in particular.

* * *

At the restaurant:

Naruto and Hinata walked through the door and seeing Tsunade, Jiriaya and Shizune they walked over to the table and sat down. The mood at the table was sombre to say the least, if the tension had been any thinker you would've need a chainsaw to cut through it, the sharp knives had already gone blunt.

'Alright so what's the plan?' asked Naruto as he sat down, looking from one Sannin to the other and back again

'The plan is simple enough, can you summon Gamakichi for me please Naruto' replied Jiriaya

'OK, but I won't just summon him' said Naruto quickly going trough the hand seals of the summoning jutsu and then repeating them 'Twin summoning' he said slamming both hands onto the table, as the smoke cleared 2 small animals could be seen in front of him

'Hey, Naruto' said Gamakichi

'Hey, Naruto, Hinataaa!' cried out Byakko dashing into Hinatas waiting arms, Tsunade and Shizune where speechless, as far as they knew no-one could summon foxes

'Yes, I have the summoning contract for foxes, it seems to have been a side affect from signing the toad summoning contract, all I can think is that the Kyuubis influence extends into my blood and in signing the contract I also created one for foxes, Hinata can summon them as well, I decided to see what happened if I acted as though I was creating a summoning contract with the animal using my blood instead after accidentally summoning the first one' Naruto said shrugging but fortunately Tsunade, Jiriaya and Shizune bought it, Hinata on the other hand, could tell it was a lie and decided to get the truth from him later

'Well regardless of the fact, Gamakichi you have a younger brother don't you?' asked Jiriaya

'Sure Jiriaya, why do you ask?' asked the toad, very curious

'Well they plan is that tonight Tsunade is going to give me a drug to disrupt my chakra control, so chances are I'll only be able to summon either you or your brother Gamatetsu, there is an anti-drug but it needs 30 minutes to work, so the plan is to keep them guessing, we know the time we need and what to do, so I'll summon you, then Naruto will summon Gamatetsu and Hinata will summon Byakko here, Shizune hasn't signed a summoning contract and so has no companion to summon, we know Tsunade is over her fear of blood, but we plan on making them think she isn't, we'll lure them deeper and deeper into a sense of false security so that when the time is right we can strike hard and fast and hopefully take them out for good, although I doubt it, when the time is right I'll summon your father Gamabunta, Naruto I'm guessing you have a large fox summon?' asked Jiriaya

'Yeah, Arasu, he's about as powerful as Hachimogi, the eight tailed chameleon demon' replied Naruto smiling

'Good, 'cause you'll be summoning him, and Tsunade will summon Katsuyu, the slug queen, we need to wait till he summons Manda though otherwise we won't have a good shot and any advantage we had will disappear, Hinata, Shizune I think that Orochimarus subordinate, whoever he is, will be there too we need you 2 to keep him occupied so that we can get our best shot at Orochimaru'

'Right' said Shizune

'OK' said Hinata

'You can do it Hinata' said Naruto smiling, Hinata blushed lightly but as always was filled with confidence and a determination to put everything she had into the task presented to her

'Alright then, tomorrow morning Tsunade will go and meet Orochimaru as planned, we'll follow behind and join the battle as soon as we can, remember to be ready to deviate from the plan and improvise if things start to go differently, make your decisions and stick with them there is no time for second guessing, trust your instincts and hopefully you won't go far wrong' said Jiriaya, then Naruto and Hinata got up and left, whilst Jiriaya, Tsunade and Shizune sat and talked over various things whilst they had a meal, Gamakichi and Byakko followed Hinata and Naruto.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata had decided to head to the forest just outside the town and continue their training.

'They certainly seem to be getting better, it's taking longer for the balloons to pop with each try' said Gamakichi

'Yeah, but I think they may still be a way away from getting it right' replied Byakko as the 2 creatures sat on the edge of the clearing they were in and watched the 2 genin practise, Hinata seemed to be able to hold it for a little longer than Naruto but couldn't put as much power into it, Naruto was putting so much power in on one occasion he had knocked himself back 3 feet and taken the top off a nearby bush, fortunately Hinata had been standing in line with him around 6 feet behind him so she hadn't been hurt.

For a further half an hour the 2 little creatures watched the genin practise, they heard another 2 pops as the balloons burst then as expected about a minute later they heard a pop but no second pop, they waited a another minute then looked at the 2 kids, Hinata was holding a balloon in her hand, it was obvious there was chakra spinning in it because of the movements it made but it didn't pop, she held it like that for about 5 minutes before letting the chakra dissipate, still without popping the balloon

'Awesome Hinata, you've done it and inside 5 days too' said Naruto ecstatic at Hinatas success, Hinata however wasn't entirely as pleased as he was

'Y-Yes, but I still can't get it anywhere near as powerful as you can Naruto' she said with a slight blush on her cheeks and looking at the floor

'Don't worry about that Hinata, I've got a much higher chakra store than anyone else in our teams, including the Sensei, I can afford to use the extra chakra to make it more powerful because even afterwards I've still got more left than most would start with, you saw how little I used compared to Sasuke and the technique I used was more powerful than the one he was using, anyway I think it's time I taught you a technique of mine, it will help you in future both in battle and in training, it's the shadow clone jutsu, everything your clones learn is passed back to you when they are dispersed or destroyed' said Naruto, he then spent the next hour and a half teaching the jutsu to Hinata whilst 4 of his own clones practised the Rasengan.

* * *

An hour and a half later:

'Hey Naruto look, that clone of yours has managed it' said Gamakichi, pointing his leg and foot at a clone holding a stable Rasengan, Naruto first looked at him and then at the clone he was pointing at

'All right, I think that'll do for today then' said Naruto getting up, he then dispersed the clones and felt a little dizzy from the rush of knowledge he gained, he then helped Hinata up and got a very solemn look on his face, he appeared to be deep in thought. Keeping hold of her hand they walked hand in hand back to the hotel, followed by Byakko and Gamakichi, Hinata sporting a light blush on her cheeks, a far cry from what her reaction would have been a week ago, to instantly pass out on contact.

"Do you remember the technique I used on a number of sound ninja when you where going to face Orochimaru last time?" asked the voice

"Yes, why?" asked Naruto

"If you remember I said I would teach you that technique but with everything that happened I completely forgot, but whilst you where doing your training I did some thinking and decided that I'd just gift you the technique since you worked so hard to master this one I think you've earned it, I'll implant the knowledge now" said the voice, Naruto immediately felt the knowledge of how the perform the technique which he also learned was called the Hikari Yaiba Buyoo Jutsu.

* * *

Later that night: the hotel room

'Hey Hinata, you want something to eat I'm gonna order a takeaway from down the road' asked Naruto, Hinata was getting a shower so he had to raise his voice slightly for her to be able to hear him

'Please Naruto, I'll have the same as you' replied Hinata, they'd dismissed the toad and the fox when they got back to the hotel and after a couple of hours of talking both on their way back from the area they'd trained in and in the hotel room Hinata had finally managed to stop stuttering even when Naruto complimented her or she was a little nervous about a situation or question, at least when she was talking to Naruto anyway.

Naruto went into his bag and pulled out a menu he'd picked up on their way back to the hotel and quickly scanned through it, finding several dishes of interest he decided he would order them all so picked up the receiver on the phone and dialled the number on the back of the menu, when the phone was answered he ordered what he had selected off the menu and told them where to deliver it, then he hung up and waited for it to be delivered. Twenty minutes later there was a knock at the door, Naruto opened it to find the delivery man at the door, he took the food then pulled out his wallet and paid the man and started to close the door with his foot, suddenly he had the arm that was at the opened part of the door up, the delivery man staggered backward from his fist and out the door

'That was stupid, I'm a shinobi, travelling that slow you might as well not of bothered' said Naruto, the food now neatly placed on the table at the other end of the room, the mans eyes widened in shock, he had watched the boy and he hadn't seen him move, the boy had seen him move and blocked it but he hadn't even seen a flicker when the boy put the food on the table, then he noticed the three black strips on each of the boys cheeks, he remembered hearing 2 ninjas talking in the restaurant one time, they had worked for Zabuza Momochi: the demon of the mist, they had spoken about a boy with whisker marks who had been unbelievably powerful, even so much as to cause Zabuza himself trouble, he also remembered them saying he was a pupil of Kakashi Hatake: the copy ninja, the son of Konohas White Fang, as well as overhearing Konoha shinobi saying that the team he had must have been quite skilled as it was the first team he'd ever passed and trained anyone.

Slowly the man got to his feet, then something else came to mind, every one knew that Konoha had done battle with the nine tailed fox but some had also said that they created a jinchuuriki, one that wasn't treated as a weapon like the others but was a ninja by their own choice and had gained the respect of many of the Konoha ninja, from pieces of information he gained over time he learned that all jinchuuriki had something that marked a resemblance to the demon sealed within, it was then that the lines on his cheeks made sense, they didn't just look like whisker marks, they were whisker marks to denote the demon sealed within him.

'I'm very sorry, I'll be going now' he said bowing low, fear apparent in his voice, after that encounter he quit his job and changed career instead deciding that working in a tea house would be much safer, Naruto then closed the door on the blur that had been the man and went back into the room dispelling the clone he'd made in the process, it had been practising chakra control when the guy called and whilst he had his eyes closed from the fist in the face it had quickly put the food on the table, he went and sorted out the food, laying it out on the table so that when Hinata came out they would be able to start eating right away.

15 minutes later Hinata came out of the bathroom dressed in some of her new clothes, she wore a red t-shirt that cut off at the top of her stomach with a skeleton with a Mohawk holding a kunai in each hand printed on it in black and the words 'When death comes knocking, just kick him in the nuts' written on the back, her pants where dark blue tight fitting shorts that cut off just above the knee. The influence Naruto had had on her confidence was obvious, her clothes where a far cry from what she once would have worn and most would never have ever thought that she would wear the clothes she had on.

'What did you order Naruto?' she asked walking towards him, he turned to look at her and smiled at the clothes she had on, he had wondered what Haishi would think when he saw most of her clothes but he wasn't too concerned, Hinatas confidence boost had done more than just change her choice in clothing, her skills had improved greatly as now she was less bothered about getting it perfect and more bothered about just doing roughly right, Naruto wasn't the best judge but as far as he could tell her forms where nearly flawless, she had also started to develop something similar to Nejis Eight Trigrams: Heavenly spin and adding her new skill into the equation she was a force to be reckoned with, even for most experienced chunin

'I got a selection since they only had foreign food, I thought it best so that we could pick and choose, I also figured that there had to be at least something that we'd like, erm that's duck in plum sauce, that's fish and chips, that's a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, ham and pineapple on and I think that's called chicken teekar mezala' said Naruto pointing to each of the dishes, Hinata had been fortunate enough to have had some of the dishes before, including the dish that Naruto had mutilated the name of

'Do you mean Chicken tikka masala?' she asked him

'Yeah that's it' said Naruto smiling, he figured Hinata may have had some of them before, as for him other than on missions, where he'd had whatever Kakashi could find or catch and cook or soldier pills, the only time he'd eaten something that wasn't ramen was when he'd taken Hinata out on their first date about a week ago. They sat at each end of the table and Naruto noticed that along with a number of sets of disposable chopsticks there was as so plastic things that he had never seen before, he picked one up and looked at it carefully, to him it looked like a flat stick that widened at one end and then split into 4 branches that ran straight and parallel to each other, Hinata noticed his dilemma

'It's called a fork, you use it in combination with this which is a knife' she said holding up a knife for him to see 'Some of the food you've ordered can't be eaten with chopsticks, the fish can't so you hold it in place with the fork and then cut it with the knife, the pizza can be eaten with them but as far as I know most people find it easier to just pick up a slice of it and eat it by hand' she explained, Naruto seemed to understand what she meant

'Oh, OK then, well let's eat' he said putting the knife down and picking up a pair of chopsticks, he decided it would be best if he started with the duck in plum sauce and the chicken thing since he could use chopsticks for them.

* * *

2 hours later

A knock came at the door so Naruto got up and went to answer it to find Jiriaya on the other side

'You 2 better get some rest, tomorrow's going to be a big day and you're going to need all the energy you can get for it, Orochimaru always was the strongest of us and I have a feeling that even in this weakened state he's still going to be though, particularly to begin with as I'm not going to be at full strength and Tsunade is going to have to take quite a beating before she can really go for them' he said

'Alright Ero-Sennin, we're just going to put the stuff from our dinner away and then we'll sort ourselves out and get some sleep, see ya' said Naruto as Hinata started putting the cartons inside one another

'OK, sleep well' replied Jiriaya, Naruto then closed the door and he walked away, he wasn't happy with Naruto calling him that but he knew it wasn't the time to get angry, he also found it quite strange that they where actually in the room, he had expected to have to go and find them as they'd be in the woods practising still.

Naruto walked back over to the table and helped Hinata clean up, it wasn't that messy so it only took them a couple of minutes, he decided he'd let Hinata sort herself out first and then he'd sort himself out

'I'll finish this off Hinata, you going and get ready for bed' he said, picking up the paper plates that had come with the food, Hinata then gathered some things together and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

After Naruto had finished putting the leftovers in the bin he collected what he needed and placed them on the end of his bed, he then lay down on his bed and waited for Hinata to finish in the bathroom, whilst he was lying there he started thinking about the relationship, the more he thought about it the more it seemed to him that even if Sakura had agreed to go out with him the relationship wouldn't last more than a month at best, but he'd only been with Hinata a week and already he couldn't imagine his life without her, he guessed that must've been what it felt like to be in love, after all he'd never really known that emotion not even from a parental bond, all he'd ever known was hate, pain and loneliness.

As he thought back on his childhood even he was amazed he'd stayed in the village, but his resolve was solid, he was going to be Hokage one day and they would have to respect him then, not that it mattered that much any more, the way he saw it all of the rookie nine, Tenten, Neji and lee would all be at least Jonin, if not ANBU by that time, and god only help some one who got on the wrong end of that lot, especially Hinata, if what he thought was right and he was pretty sure it was, if someone tried to get him and she could stop it, god help them, because no one else would be able to, then the bathroom door opened and Hinata stepped out, so Naruto picked up his things and walked towards the bathroom door, as he passed Hinata he stopped, put his hand under her chin and tilting his head down, lightly tilted hers up and kissed her, Hinata blushed hard but returned the kiss, then he released her lips

'I'll be out soon, you just get to sleep OK Shinju' (the pet name he'd chosen for his "pearl in the sand" as he said, of course on hearing his pet name and reasoning Hinata instantly fainted) he said to her, looking into her eyes, to him they where absolutely beautiful, he could just stare into those eyes for days and completely lose himself

'O-Ok Naruto' she said with her face the shade of a tomato, she couldn't find a word to suite him, there wasn't the word made to express how she felt about him, she then walked over and put her clothes in her bag, they'd sorted out to have a company collect what Naruto had bought for them the next morning at 6.30am so they wouldn't have to carry it back as it would likely get in the way in a fight, Naruto said he'd speak to the Third when they got back and ask him to teach him how to put things into a scroll for easy carrying, but for the moment Hinata sat on her bed and let her mind drift.

There was so much that Naruto had already done for her and she felt as though all she did was get in his way, which she never actually did, fainted whenever he was nice or kind to her or just cheered him on form the sidelines, she knew she wasn't the strongest, the smartest or the most skilled, but she knew that Naruto had chosen her as much as she had chosen him and something told her that he wasn't going to let her go without good reason, her father had even accepted him which meant we was a suitable candidate for a husband in the long run, she decided not to think on it and also decided what she would do when he came out of the bathroom.

* * *

Leaving you guessing, leaving you guessing, have fun trying to work out what's going to happen when he comes out or just read the challenge to learn how you can help every one find out sooner hehehehe. I'm so cruel.

**CHALLENGE:**

**I want 6 worthwhile reviews from 6 DIFFERENT people in 1 month, you have till /2/08 to get your review posted**

**Short reviews of 'keep it up' and 'good work' don't count, tell me what's right with it, tell me what's wrong with it, tell me what's missing**

**The next chapter will be up on the Challenge end date if I don't get 6 reviews but:**

**IF I GET 6 WORTHWHILE REVIEWS THE DAY I GET THE SIXTH I'LL PUT THE NEXT CHAPTER UP **

I've also decided it's time for a new poll, I'm pretty sure on the path that this story is taking but I've been thinking and come to something of a crossroads so I've decided to ask you guys, the reader, you've got several chapters before I'm going to need the results of this poll so here goes

I'm going to have Shino and Choji face off in a match do you want me to write out the whole match and who do you want to win:

A)Yes and Shino wins

B)No and Shino wins

C)Yes and Choji wins

D)No and Choji wins

E)Yes ends a Draw

F)No ends a Draw

The results will probably cause a slightly longer chapter but won't affect the story as a whole

Next chapter: The fox's memories, New weapons and a big question; What is love?: Next chapter: Finding Happiness


	6. Finding Happiness

Power – Redefined

Chapter 6 – Finding Happiness

* * *

The bathroom door opened and Naruto walked out, like Hinata he had opted for a change in sleeping clothes, she had chosen a set of black pyjamas with a blue swirl on the front and a green one on the back, Narutos where also black but on the front of his was the image of a fox and the back had an image of a pearl, he had said that the fox represented him and the pearl represented her, when she had protested about him describing himself as a fox he had replied that whilst he wasn't the Kyuubi, the god of foxes did reside within him and besides that he was the primary fox summoner so it made sense regardless of how you looked at it so she had conceded.

Naruto walked over to the bags, put his clothes away and took out a fresh set ready for the morning, then he walked over and lay on his bed, Hinata then stood up, walked over to his bed and lay down next to him putting her arm round him as she lay down. Naruto was surprised to say the least he quickly turned round to face her

'What's the matter Hinata?' he asked worried that there was something wrong he could see a mixture of sadness and happiness in her eyes, her emotions seemed to be at war. For Hinata that was exactly what was happening, she was happy lying next to him, but she also felt that she didn't deserve him and that she should just get up and go back to her bed and not even think about this sort of thing ever again, she decided that the only way to calm her emotions was to let him make the decision

'C-Can we stay l-l-like t-t-this, at least for a little while?' she asked him, sacred he would say no and sacred he would say yes. Naruto pondered the question for only a moment, at least for the moment it took to sink into his brain, but for Hinata it seemed like hours had passed since she asked the question

'Sure, anything for you' he said putting his arm round her and pulling her closer, he could feel her body pushing up against his and it felt nice. Hinata couldn't have been happier, she pressed her body as close to his as she could, her eyes where closed and her face had a smile of pure bliss on it. They stayed like that and ended up falling asleep holding each other, at some point in the night Naruto awoke and found Hinata still holding on to him, so he used his feet and pulled the quilt up from the bottom of the bed and covered them with it.

* * *

The next morning

Hinata awoke to find herself in Narutos arms, which was the last thing she expected and something she'd dreamed of and thus promptly fainted. Around 10 minutes later Naruto awoke to find that he was still holding Hinata, as she was him, and along with the smile that she'd had when she went to sleep, she now also had a heavy blush on her face, the only reason he could think of for this was that she had woken up first not to long before and, on realising the situation, had in fact fainted, he decided to wait and see if she'd wake up soon and if she did what her reaction would be.

After about 5 minutes Hinata came round again but whilst she was at least a little prepared to see a sleeping Naruto in front of her before she opened her eyes, when she opened them to see Narutos own brilliant blue eyes looking right into hers, with the love she had never expected to see in them apparent as the nose that sat just below them, it was again to much to take and again she passed out with a blush and a smile. Naruto watched her reaction and smiled, he had seen in her eyes the love he had yearned for all his life and never known and now he was fairly confident that he was returning that love at least a little as he was still unsure as to exactly what love felt like.

He decided that he should probably wake her so that they could get ready and sort the clothes out to be taken away, they where to be delivered to the Hyuga residence with instructions that only Hinata or Naruto could open them, the fox hand been kind enough to teach Naruto a seal that required the same blood that had been used to create the seal to open it, apparently it wanted to see the look on Haishis face as much as Naruto and Hinata did, Naruto had decided that there really was only one suitable way to wake Hinata up, the same way he always did now, he lightly kissed her on the lips, waited for her to return it and then pulled away after a few moments.

Hinata still thought that it was the best possible wake up she could ever have and after Naruto pulled away she slowly opened her eyes, then her mind gradually put everything together from the last 2 times she had woken up but fortunately this time she didn't faint

'D-D-Did w-we s-s-s-sleep, l-l-like t-this?' she asked, not entirely sure that Naruto hadn't just brought her over earlier to give her a great wake up, she wasn't bothered if that was all he'd done but she had to know for sure

'Mmmhhhmmm, did you sleep well my Shinju?' he asked, Hinata suddenly felt very light headed even though she was lying down, she had slept in the same bed as Naruto, holding him the whole night, to say she felt like she was on cloud nine was an understatement, cloud nine seemed to be along way down from where she was

'Y-Y-Yes, thank you Naruto' she replied, she could hardly believe that she had slept right next to him

'Glad to hear it, now come on we've got to get ready, they'll be coming to pick up the bags soon and we have to get ready to go' he said starting to get out of bed, he then thought about the weights that where still around his wrist and ankles "If only there was some way to get them off quickly if I need to" he thought, then he heard a small chuckle in his head

"I may have a solution to that, there is a jutsu I came across a few centuries ago, I've only ever known one clan to use it and it would seem, from what I've gathered of the world today, that those methods have been lost along with the clan, the clan name was Namikaze and I've not heard any mention of them in your entire life, or for that matter for the last hundred years before I was sealed in you which is a shame really, they where a clan that had even earned my respect and that is not something easily done" said the voice, as he said this Hinata got out of bed, collected her things and went into the bathroom

"Where they that powerful?" asked Naruto, he was curious as to how a clan could have gained the respect of this, most powerful of demons

"They where of a reasonable strength, I've come across more powerful, but there were 2 things that really set them apart, first was they're skill for improvisation, never have I seen a group of people so capable of adjusting to a situation as it unfolded quite like they where, the second was that they where willing to try and talk with and understand anything, they believed that fighting should be the last resort and they even reasoned with me, it was the only time I found a human that actually seemed worth talking to, he challenged me to a game of my choosing and as long as he was given time to understand the rules properly he asked that it should take the place of the battle, if he could win then I was to leave and never harm the village, if he lost then it was my choice as to what happened whether I left the village harming none or left it as a ruin" said the voice, apparently lost in the memory

"So what happened?" asked Naruto, he had never heard the beast speak of anything fondly but it seemed quite fond of this

"We played a game that he hadn't heard of called chess, I took it easy the first game playing it quickly to allow him to get used to the rules, then we played for real, the game lasted for several days and nights and it ended in a stalemate, he should have lost several times but as I said they where a people capable of great improvisation and he always found some way to keep me at bay, but that's enough of my reminiscing. Now then the jutsu is very simple requiring only three hand seals and a burst of chakra to release them, but it also requires that the hand seals and a small amount of your chakra be put into the weights before you need to use it, so if you put it in now then it will be there to use when you need it, it's called the Kaju Kaijo jutsu" said the voice

"So are you saying I have to do the jutsu twice to make it work?" asked Naruto somewhat confused

"Not exactly, you do it once at a time like now when you don't need it and put just a small amount in, then when you actually need to use it you perform it the second time letting out a bigger burst of chakra, the first burst finds the release method for the weights and gets it ready so that it can be released at a moments notice, the second burst then causes the first to release it and depending on how much chakra you put in will do anything from just release them to pushing them so far from your body you've no chance of ever finding them again" the voice explained

"Oh, so it's a 2 stage method, it makes sense now, I'm guessing that it could be done with just one use of the seals and one burst of chakra but it would take longer to release them, right?" replied Naruto

"Got it in one" replied the voice, Naruto then performed the hand seals that came into his head and pushed a small amount of chakra into the weights on his ankles and wrists

"Should I teach it to Hinata?" Naruto asked, he thought it best that she knew it as well

"Yes, she may need it more than you" replied the voice.

Naruto then started gathering the bags together whilst he waited for Hinata to come out of the bathroom. Around 5 minutes later he finished putting the bags together and then he heard the click of the bathroom door.

The door opened and Hinata walked out wearing the forest camouflage uniform, she walked up to Naruto and gave him a light peck on the cheek

'Your turn' she said walking past him to her backpack

'Hold on Hinata, I've got something to teach you' said Naruto quickly turning around, she was surprised but always happy to learn something new, particularly when Naruto was her teacher

'What is it?' she asked

'Well I gave some thought to quickly releasing these weights, right now it would take too long to take them off, so the fox decided to teach me something he knew to take them off quickly, it works in 2 stages, the first is to do 3 hand seals and put a small amount of chakra into the weights, this gets them ready to be released quickly without actually releasing them, the second is to do the same thing when you need to take them off but instead of only putting a small amount in you put a bigger burst in, depending on how much you put in depends on how far from your body they move, not much chakra and they only release, a lot of chakra and they fly a long way and you mightn't be able to find them again' he explained

'Ok then, show me' she said, determined that she would learn this technique in case she had to help him, she wanted to make sure that if she had to help him she would do everything she possibly could to do so, she would go to the end of the earth or master an advanced jutsu in a moment, whatever it took to save him. Naruto then slowly showed her the three hand seals needed for the jutsu, once he'd finished she repeated the seals and pushed a small amount of chakra into the weights on her wrists and ankles.

'This technique is called the Kaju Kaijo jutsu, if we were going to listen to Jiriayas advice without this we might as well not wear them because they would more likely cost us our lives, at least with this we can take them off in an instant' said Naruto he then turned around and went into the bathroom to get himself ready for the day, unlike Hinata he had chosen not to wear the camouflage uniform, figuring that it wouldn't do much good in a head on fight and instead elected for some clothes he'd gotten at a shinobi store, there was only one in the small town but all the equipment it carried was very rare and of the highest quality

_**FLASHBACK MODE ACTIVED**_

_Naruto and Hinata where looking around the store. Naruto had already selected several types of shuriken and collected over 100 of each, he had also found some very interesting kunai, from what he could gather from the tag under them they where made of a metal that was designed to allow chakra to follow easily through it and gather in it meaning that less was needed, he had added around 50 of those to the steadily growing pile of equipment, which also include; high tensile trap wire, 3 leg holsters for his kunai, a belt capable of holding his weight, Hinatas, Jiriayas, Tsunades, Shizunes and Kakashis if it had too, as well as three kunai holsters, 2 shuriken holsters and 2 utility pouches for it._

_He had also found a selection of clothes including a particular type that caught his eye, the information with them said they where as strong as steel and lighter than cotton, it also said they would adapt to the wearer and fit them almost like a second skin, Naruto had decided that he would buy 7 sets for himself and another 7 for Hinata, he had also had some customisations made to 2 sets of each, the front of his had a four tailed fox on the right breast and kanji reading fox summoner on the back, whilst Hinatas had a pearl on the left breast pocket and the words 'Kagayaku Hikari' or Shining Light on the back._

_In the store there was also a selection of other weapons, Naruto had carefully looked through and found several weapons to be of interest, first there was the jo staff, it went up to about the height of his chest but he could tell that it would be of more use when he was older, the second weapon was unusual to him but he thought it looked like it could be a fine weapon and failing that a good wall ornament, it was around the same height as the jo staff but unlike the jo it curved round to fit comfortably round the hips, the owner of the shop said it was called a kyokukan staff._

_He then found 2 weapon sets right next to each other and figured (rightly) that they where probably well suited to work as a set, to him the tantos didn't looked to be much use being quite short, not much longer than a big kunai in fact, but decided to get one set of the wakazashis as they looked like they would be very effective. Whilst he was walking round he noticed that Hinata kept quickly moving round and going back to the spot stood there for around 5 minutes and then would walked round again for 2 minutes hardly paying attention to anything and end up back in the same spot._

_He decided to go and see what she was looking at so when she got back to the same spot after another 2 minute walk he went to the row behind her which the top of was lower than his head, he saw her looking up at something on the wall and followed her gaze which lead him to a beautifully crafted scythe, the handle was a mat black with spirits carved into it running from top to bottom, the handles where curved and crafted to sit comfortably in the hand, each had a skull carefully crafted into the end, the blade was also very well crafted and made from a strange black metal that looked, to Naruto at least, as though it absorbed light._

_Naruto waited patiently for Hinata to finish looking and begin her walk again, then he slowly made his way to it, taking care to make it seem as though he actually was looking, he could already tell that Hinata was trying to not let him know she was interested in it so she made sure to stay away from it and him so as not to arouse suspicion. Naruto arrived at the scythe and found the information, according to the card it was a unique design that was very hard to craft, it adjusted to the height of the user and continued to do so throughout their life, the blade was made from a metal called Fuseihikari which absorbed a small amount of light but could take chakra used in an opponents attack and when done correctly allowed the wielder to use that chakra for a jutsu of their own._

_Naruto moved away and found another item of use to him, it was a pack of small cards that when you focused some chakra into them would tell you your elemental chakra affiliation, he decided that it would be a good idea to get a pack so that he and Hinata could check their elements, then he walked over to the counter and spoke to the manager about the scythe, he asked the manager how many they had in, the manager said they had three, then he asked how much they cost, the manager had replied that they normally cost around 2,500,000ryo but since Naruto was already buying a lot he would give him a special discount and it would only be 1,500,000ryo, Naruto then asked if the manager had said they had 3 in stock, the manager had replied that yes they did, to which Naruto then replied no they didn't and promptly handed over the 7,500,000ryo that everything cost(like I said when all you buy is ramen because no one will sell you anything and you get high level missions your money tends to stack up)._

_He and Hinata then left the store and went to get some food, Hinata asked if they could have another look in on their way back because she had decided to get an unusual kunai design to try, Naruto had replied that they could if he could buy them for her, Hinata felt a bit guilty for not even letting him know she had an interest in the scythe and so agreed, when they went back she looked at the place where the scythe had been from the row behind where she picked up some long kunai, Naruto noticed that she had quite a sad look on her face and couldn't wait to see it when he showed her that he hadn't just got her one but three._

_**FLASKBACK MODE DEACTIVATED**_

Naruto decided that once he'd finished getting ready he'd give Hinata one of the scythes and tell her he had 2 more for her, he couldn't wait to see the look on her face when he did. He quickly got a shower and dried himself off, his body was already becoming far more defined than it had been but still remained quite boyish looking.

Around 15 minutes after he went into the bathroom he came out dressed and ready for battle, the clothes he bought where indeed very light weight and had adapted to him so that the top was tight fitting on the arms but loose fitting on the chest and hung down low enough to tuck into the trousers which fitted his waist exactly and where loose till they reached his ankles where they tightened around his ankles without leaving any part of the cloth folded back on it's self. Around his waist he wore the belt with one kunai and one shuriken pouch just above where a pocket would be, one utility pouch was at the start of each ass cheek and the last kunai holster for the belt was right at the back in line with his spine.

Most would look at the way he wore the kunai holsters on his legs and think it was strange but he had thought very carefully and decided that the best set up was to have one on each leg in the same place as the original had been and then the others sat on each leg upside down just below the knee so that if he had to kneel he could still get quick access to a kunai rather than having to get one out past his upper body as well as that it took less time to lift his hand to his knee than it did to get it to his thigh.

He then walked over to the items that where going to be picked up and taken to Konoha ahead of them and picked up a box around 7 and a half feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 inches deep. Hinata was sitting on her bed cross legged trying to think how she was going to arrange her weapons and equipment in her pouches, she looked up when she saw Naruto approaching, he was standing at the side of her bed holding out a large box, she took it curious as to what was in it, it weighed a considerable amount but not as much as she had first expected, she laid it on her lap and carefully opened it, when she saw the scythe her jaw dropped, she couldn't believe he had bought it for her she looked at him speechless, he smiled broadly and genuinely

'I knew you wanted it because you kept going back and spending a long time looking at it, the shop had 3 in stock, they're out of stock now because you own them all' he said the smile never leaving his face, Hinata looked back at the scythe and picked it up, it instantly shrank to a more suitable size for her, then she noticed the note in the bottom of the box, it read 'Smear your blood on the skull on the end of each handle and this weapon will be yours alone, it will seek your hand and harm another that would use it. Choose wisely once done it may only have 2 masters at any one time, the second master must put their blood on the skulls along with your own, it will know when a master dies and the a new master can only be added by adding their blood to the remaining masters and repeating the process'

She did as the instructions said and then placed the scythe by her bed and tackled Naruto to the floor in a hung, nuzzling into the crook of his neck and crying in happiness. After 5 minutes she kneeled up over the top of Naruto and decided that they only way she could really think of to thank him was to kiss him, so she did, she quickly leaned down and kissed him on the lips. After a few moments she pulled back and stood up helping Naruto to his feet, then she reached over to the box and pulled out the piece of paper and handed it to Naruto, he read through it carefully and understanding replaced the confused look he had gotten when she handed him the paper

'Would I be right in thinking that you want me to be the second master for the scythe?' he asked, to which her reply was a single sharp nod of her head so he bit his thumb and she did the same then just as she had done he followed the instructions and wiped his blood combined with hers on the skulls at the end of the staff, then he looked at her and a thought seemed to flash through his brain before he spoke again

'So are you going to name any of them?' he asked sincerely, Hinata seemed to contemplate this for a moment before replying

'I think I'll name this one and leave the other 2 unnamed for the moment' she replied

'So do you know what you're going to call it?' he asked, again Hinata seemed to go into thought at this before coming to a conclusion

'I think I'll call it Owari' she replied happily, seeing her so happy Naruto felt the happiest he had ever felt, he almost felt that he wouldn't care if he died right now, but on a second thought realised that he would actually be devastated, he couldn't bare the thought of either not being there to protect her or failing to protect her, he could only just bare the thought of losing her because of old age.

* * *

For around the next half hour Hinata practised with the scythe whilst Naruto carefully selected the layout for his weapons and equipment, in his left shuriken holster he had 20 three pointed curved shuriken (Think Itachis Mangekyo Sharingan) and his right holster held 40 standard shuriken in his utility pouches he carefully packed some things he thought he might need, including 1 barbed kunai, designed to stick into things so that it could be used to climb up, some high tensile trap wire but he only took around 25 feet of the 300 feet he bought and one of the chakra enhancing kunai, he wasn't sure why but he had a feeling he would need it.

At the end of the half hour there was a knock at the door, Naruto finished putting the last of his kunai in holsters and answered the door while Hinata attached some cord to Owari and then slung it over her back. At the door where the delivery men to take the items to Konoha, they had to be dropped off at the Hyugas compound because Naruto lived alone, but Naruto had thought ahead to send a small amount of the more selective clothes, that he was pretty sure Haishi would kill him for buying for Hinata to the Third to keep safe till he came to pick them up.

By the time they had finished sorting out the bags it was 7.30am and they had to meet Jiriaya, Tsunade and Shizune at 8am for breakfast and finalise how the plan was going to work leading up to the battle, they all knew it wasn't going to be easy and it could potentially cost them their lives but they also knew that if they could take him out now he would never be a threat again and it was a risk worth taking, more so for Naruto, Jiriaya and Tsunade.

To Naruto he was a threat to his best friend Sasuke, to Jiriaya and Tsunade he was the comrade that betrayed them and nearly cost themselves and their mentor their lives. Hinata knew one thing, Naruto was willing to risk his life for it and she would risk her life to make sure he succeeded, she knew there was little Naruto would put his life on the line for if he could avoid it because it would put his dream of being Hokage on the line, so if he was willing to risk it then so was she.

'Anything you want to do whilst we wait Shinju?' asked Naruto, as soon as he asked her one thing came to mind and the thought caused her to blush lightly

'Could we just lie on the bed together?' she asked quietly, though her stutter was now almost completely gone and only surfaced when she was either nervous to just above the point of fainting or scared, however the blush was almost permanently on her face when she was around Naruto though it had lessened from the once heavy blush to a light blush. Despite this her confidence was still low and Naruto had resolved to do everything he could to increase her confidence

'Of course' replied Naruto smiling, he had hoped she would want to do that as he had never felt so comfortable and happy as he did the previous night and when he awoke to find her in his arms.

He then lay down on the bed and opened his arms towards her, she quickly walked over and wrapped her arms around him as he enclosed her in his embrace, but there was something she wanted to hear from him she had thought she'd seen it in his eyes but wanted to know for sure so she gathered up her courage and steadied herself to ask the question

'Naruto, how do you feel about me?' she asked quietly, looking into his eyes, she could see the love but wanted to be sure it was for her

'I don't really know in truth, I've never had a mother or farther or been shown any emotion other than anger and hatred, all I do know is that when I'm with you I feel so happy and content, it's a feeling I've never known before in my entire life' he replied, wishing he could give her a better answer but not really knowing what the answer really was or what he was feeling

"I can tell you what you're feeling, but in return I'd like you to stop referring to me as 'the fox' or 'Kyuubi' I have a name you know" said the voice in his head

"Please tell me, if I had known you had a name I would have called you it sooner" replied Naruto almost pleading

"Very well, my name is Akahito, the Red Messenger and as you suspected the emotion you're feeling is love but it is pure love capable of lasting a life time, if I didn't know that fate isn't predetermined I would think you 2 cut from the same stone" said Akahito

"Thank you, Akahito" said Naruto happily he then decided to give this new information to Hinata

'According to Akahito it is love, he said that if he didn't know better he would think we where made for each other' Naruto told Hinata smiling broadly. On hearing this Hinata blushed deeply, nuzzled in to the crook of Narutos neck and started sobbing softly, Naruto got worried when he heard her start crying thinking he might have said something wrong, he pulled her up and looked at her with a very worried look on his face, Hinata had her head lowered so he couldn't see the smile on it or the look of pure happiness in her eyes

'What's wrong Hinata?' he asked worriedly, Hinata quickly jerked her head up and looked him in the eye, she had pulled her hands up to her chest when he had told her he loved her, she heard the worry in his voice and saw the worry plainly across his face then she realised, he didn't understand that she was crying in happiness, he had only ever known tears for sadness

'Nothing's wrong, in fact it couldn't be more right' she said, Naruto got a very confused look on his face, if things couldn't be more right then why was she crying, she again saw his face and realised he still didn't understand, she threw herself at him wrapping her arms tightly around his neck

'I love you Naruto, these tears are from happiness not sadness' she whispered into his ear

* * *

I think I need to end this chapter here it's long enough and the next chapter will be the one you've been waiting for: the big fight

Next Chapter: Truth be told, Chasing Tsunade, Orochimarus accomplice, Naruto snaps: Chapter 7 – Revelations of the Past


	7. Revelations of the Past

Power – Redefined

Chapter 7 – Revelations of the Past

Made excellent progress so I decide to add a fresh chapter for all those who've been waiting for it

* * *

After around 10 minutes Hinata stopped crying and Naruto glanced at the clock on the bedside cabinet that sat in between the 2 beds, the time showed 7.55am, fortunately they only needed to go downstairs so they got up off the bed and picked up their backpacks, Hinata had used some wire and slung the scythe over her back, Naruto had also kept some weapons with him, namely the 2 wakazashis that he'd bought, using some wire he'd fastened them to his back with the carefully crafted hilts with their intricate dragon design face downwards and slightly to each side in an X shape, he had decided that if he liked them he would get a set custom made with foxes instead as he had become quite fond of the idea of being regarded as the fox warrior.

They walked to the door and opened it, Hinata walked out and Naruto turned around to make sure that they had collected everything before turning back round and following Hinata out the door closing it behind himself. As they walked down the corridor to the stairs Hinata slipped her hand into his and smiled to him, he happily accepted her hand in his own and returned the smile.

A few minutes later they arrived in the restaurant and joined Tsunade, Jiriaya and Shizune at the table, the waiter came over and they ordered some breakfast, then Jiriaya decided it was time to go over the plan

'Now then, what we have decided to do is follow Tsunade at a safe distance and allow her to make contact with Orochimaru, she will then begin the fight and we will follow close behind until she can get them clear of the town, once that's done we'll join in the fight and put the rest of the plan into motion' Jiriaya explained

'I've got a better idea, that is if Granny here thinks she can get them out of the town in less than 10 minutes' said Naruto smiling

'You bet your ass I can brat, I'll have them out of town in five flat' replied the Sannin furious that he had called her that, she was still certain that he couldn't possibly have mastered that technique in the time he'd had to do so

'Good then I suggest we leave here around 5 minutes after Granny and follow them from there' said Naruto

'And how exactly do you propose we follow when we don't even know where they've gone?' asked Jiriaya

'Simple' replied Naruto smiling 'I can follow them by scent and sound, my hearing and sense of smell are even better than Kibas' he finished. Everyone was stunned they couldn't believe it

'How?' asked Jiriaya, Narutos face turned solemn

'Something else from the Kyuubi, whilst I was missing it decided it wanted me to be as strong as possible, it awakened my kekkei genkai, it gave me the summoning contract for foxes and it enhanced my sense of hearing and smell' he said with down cast eyes, half expecting them to hate him now, then he felt Hinatas arm wrap around him, he wasn't so surprised at this, she already knew about the fox and still loved him, he should have known this wouldn't change anything with her. Jiriaya was the first to speak

'Well I guess that makes a lot of sense, particularly when you consider that in all likelihood when you die so does it, so even if it was trying to find a way to break out it's going to need as much time as it can to do so' said Jiriaya, Naruto was shocked, his head shot up so fast that you would've thought he should be suffering whiplash, he looked at Jiriaya, then to Tsunade and finally to Shizune, all there face showed one thing, complete indifference to this new piece of information.

'OK then, well with that dilemma solved I think that sounds like an excellent plan, Orochimaru will never know what hit him and since your plan was so good, I'll let that little insult slide, you haven't won the bet yet' said Tsunade, Naruto just smiled, he knew she was going to be proved wrong soon enough.

* * *

The four sat and small talked for around 20 minutes then Tsunade got up and left headed to meet Orochimaru. Five minutes later she was followed by Jiriaya, Naruto, Shizune and Hinata, with Naruto leading the way.

They reached a wall and found it had a rather large section missing, as did the building behind it, Jiriaya wasn't surprised and was the first to speak

'Somehow I don't think we're going to need your sense of smell anymore Naruto' he said

'I've seen large beasts that did less damage' said Naruto his eyes wide, they quickly took off at a run following the trail of destruction out of the town, they found flattened houses, up routed trees, a craters the same size as boulders

'I see Tsunade still has that insane strength of hers' said Jiriaya as they passed what could be mistaken as a small volcano, a hill had had the entire of the top removed and a crater 4 metres deep was in the centre of it

'I've never known it this powerful tough, he must have said something to really piss her off' said Shizune a little worried, she knew that Tsunades strength came from her chakra control and being able to unleash it at the point of impact but Tsunade, despite her appearance was getting old and whilst she wasn't far past her prime, her chakra reserves where still lower than they once had been from both age and lack of use

'If he's anything like he was in our days under Sarutobi-Sensei he doesn't insult often but when he does it's far worse than any you'd normally hear, he knows enough of Tsunades background to reopen some really old wounds a pour a lot of salt in them, I'm different because I never really did have anything to hide and didn't care much for what they said about it' explained Jiriaya, Shizune got very worried hearing this, she had seen Tsunade mildly lose her temper a couple of times, but if what Jiriaya said was true, and it looked like it was, then Tsunade was really going to go nuts at them and if these where any indication, either she wasn't thinking clearly enough to plan the hit or her opponents where fast enough to evade even her quickest strikes, which would only serve to make her worse, even if she was only as bad as she'd seen her before, then Naruto spoke

'I can hear fighting of some form in the distance, or if these constant over sized pot holes are any indication baa-chan twating the floor every 30 seconds' he said, this caused them to hasten their pace.

* * *

Further on ahead Tsunade was furious, Orochimaru had said that all Hokages that had been and would ever be were nothing more than worthless trash, she couldn't care less really about him insulting the third or fourth but to insult her grandfather and granduncle was taking it to far, she had chased after them for the last ten minutes, Orochimaru and his accomplice, the man stood around the same height as the snake sannin but his build was a bit slighter, he wasn't wearing a shirt and on the centre of his chest was a curse seal, three lines that curved clockwise, his hair was the same length as his masters but silver instead of black, Orochimaru had said his name was Kimimaro.

'What's the matter Tsunade, slowing down in your old age' Taunted the snake sannin whilst laughing, this sent Tsunade off on another barrage of attacks, but still failing to hit either target.

* * *

They were catching up quickly and could see figures moving in the distance, again the group hastened their pace but Jiriaya noticed something that worried him, they weren't moving away anymore, whilst they where still moving they seemed to be moving around in a single area

'Something's not right, they aren't moving further away, they're just moving around the same area now' he said to the rest of the group and they again hastened their pace

* * *

Tsunade was to wound up to realise that they where only moving around the same are, Orochimaru however had noticed the collection of figures that had been slowly gaining on them and chuckled to himself mentally, they would be in for far more trouble than they thought, he had expected that the Third would suggest Tsunade as the next Hokage and would likely send Jiriaya to get her, probably with the damn Kyuubi brat in tow. He consoled himself that despite the boys' large chakra reserves he was still unable to effectively mould it and had no access to the Kyuubis to compensate, believing his disruptive seal was still in place.

He had planned that she might turn against him and that she would have others following her to help, so he had 6 of his best outside the sound four hide in the area they where in now, they where merely waiting for his signal to begin their attack.

* * *

As the group got closer they could see that Tsunade was running out of chakra quite fast, her attacks where becoming less frequent and the booms from her impacts with the floor were the same has they had been, meaning they weren't as loud as they had been, the group again sped up, now knowing that Tsunade needed help and that they weren't going to have to travel any further than that point.

Around a minute later they arrived, they landed next to Tsunade whilst Orochimaru and the guy with him jumped onto a large boulder nearby, Shizune quickly moved to Tsunades side

'Lady Tsunade are you alright?' she asked, concern apparent both in her voice and on her face, the Sannin slowly rose to her feet

'I'm fine, just a little tired' replied the Sannin a little out of breathe

'Kimimaro' said Orochimaru, the man then did something that the group found to be quite disgusting, a bone slowly came out of his left shoulder and he reached up with his right hand and pulled it quickly out, it looked like a sword made entirely of bone, he then passed it to Orochimaru, who took it with his left hand, raised it above his head and swiftly brought it down so that it was parallel with the ground, as soon as he did this 6 ninja with the image of a musical note on their forehead protectors jumped out of some nearby bushes and trees and landed in front of Orochimaru and Kimimaro facing the group of ninja

'Once we've killed you five we'll go and destroy Konoha and I'll take Sasuke as my next body, kill them' said Orochimaru, his voice monotone and emotionless, the sound ninja quickly moved forward 2 engaging Jiriaya in combat, whilst the rest took on Naruto, Hinata, Shizune and Tsunade one on one.

Jiriaya was holding his own against the 2 ninja but only just, Tsunade, Hinata and Shizune seemed to be struggling but Naruto seemed to have a slight upper hand, the sound ninja seemed to relay on powerful taijutsu strikes, before he would have easily out matched Naruto but now Naruto was using and combination of ninjutsu and a higher speed, leaving his opponent quite vulnerable as he couldn't keep up with him.

It took Naruto a matter of minutes to tire his opponent out and open him up, he then quickly finished him off throwing a shuriken straight into his throat and immediately felt sick at having just made his first kill, but that quickly changed as he looked over at Hinata to see her be stabbed badly in the side with a kunai by her opponent.

As he saw her be attacked something came over him, power beyond anything he could ever imagine flooded his system, a primal rage encased him, he blasted forward without a thought, in a split second he had covered the 200 metre distance between himself and the sound ninja, as soon as he arrived a Rasengan the same size as his head formed in his right hand and he thrust it into the sound ninjas side, the man was annihilated, his body shredded all that remained was blood and bits, nothing to ever signal what had once been but he didn't finish there, he remembered what they planed to do to Konoha and the people there that where most important to him, Iruka – the closest thing he had to a father, the old Hokage – the nearest thing to a grandfather, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and Konohamaru – the nearest people to siblings he'd ever had, Ayame and Teuchi – he considered them his cousin and his uncle.

He would never let them be harmed when he could do something about it, he would destroy anyone and anything that threatened them, be they man, animal, demon, nation or nature he would protect them. Blue chakra swirled around his body, there was no red mixed with it, it was pure blue chakra, the force threw his shirt off his body, again he charged at a sound ninja again he covered the distance in an instant and again he left nothing to identify what it was, then again with another sound ninja and again and again till the only ones left where the bone freak and the snake sannin and he would leave even less of them, he would remove any trace they had been there.

Again the chakra swirled around him, only this time something completely different happened, he started flashing through hand seals so fast that not one of the three sannin or any of the three others witnessing it could keep up, he finally stopped and shouted 'HELLS INFERNAL REKONING: DEMON DESTRUCTION JUTSU' as he was engulfed in fire and then the fire blasted out headed directly for the snake sannin and his remaining accomplice, they turned and ran, but they couldn't out run the fire.

It caught up to them quickly and engulfed them, the fire burned white, as hot as a sun, then it left Narutos body and swiftly flowed to the 2 spots where Orochimaru and Kimimaro had been, flared for a moment and then exploded leaving nothing but a 3 metre deep crater and scorched grass for 20 meters around the edges of the crater where each had been.

Then he moved to Hinatas side with the same blinding speed that he had used before, he looked at her wound and knew she needed help fast

'Tsunade, Shizune please quickly Hinata needs help' he called out, Tsunade, Jiriaya and Shizune had all been put into a daze by what happened but on hearing Narutos cry that Hinata needed help they quickly snapped out of it and ran to her aid, Tsunade quickly inspected the wound and immediately she and Shizune got to work healing, Hinata had been losing blood at a swift but steady rate, so they quickly stopped anymore blood loss and then with Shizune stopping her from losing any more blood Tsunade worked on closing the wound itself and healing the damage.

For five minutes Tsunade worked whilst Shizune kept her from losing any more blood but to Naruto it seemed like an eternity as he watched with baited breathe waiting to find out if the girl he loved was going to make it. Finally Tsunade and Shizune stopped and relaxed, Tsunade was almost completely exhausted having even used the chakra stored in the purple diamond on her forehead to heal the wound, Shizune was all but the same, with only a small amount more chakra left than Tsunade.

'Is she going to be alright?' asked Naruto worriedly

'Yes she's going to be just fine' said Tsunade, Naruto was visibly relieved at hearing this he moved beside her and wrapped her in a hug, then placed her resting on his lap and stroked her hair waiting for her to wake up.

Jiriayas mind was racing, how had Naruto done that, the only conceivable way was if he had been using the Kyuubis chakra but the amount it would have drawn would have caused him to be cloaked in the red chakra of the demon, yes the chakra had been visible and that was what really made it strange, it was all blue, the colour of Narutos own chakra, he knew he'd come across the reason before somewhere he just had to remember where, as he was thinking he noticed Hinata come around, Narutos face lit up when he saw her waking up

'Are you alright Hinata?' he asked, concern evident in his voice

'Y-Y-Yes, w-why?' she asked wearily, not quite sure what had happened, she remembered being stabbed by the sound ninja and falling down and then seeing a flash of blue before she fell unconscious

'You had me so worried, you got stabbed by a sound ninja and if Tsunade and Shizune hadn't of healed you when they did you would've died from blood loss' said Naruto hugging her again with tears streaming down his cheeks, at that point it was very apparent to all that he really loved her, it was then that the information struck Jiriaya that he'd been trying to remember but Tsunade asked the question before he could start explaining

'What did you do Naruto? I've never seen such raw power' she asked

'Why what happened?' asked Hinata both worried and confused

'Naruto had just taken out his own opponent when you got hit, he watched the ninja stab you and seemed to totally lose it, how on earth he did it I don't know but in a split second he was in between you on the floor and the sound ninja getting ready to kill you, he created the biggest Rasengan I've ever seen and completely annihilated the ninja, then did the same with all except Orochimaru and the freak that was with him, when they where the only ones left he used a technique I've never even heard of with a speed I didn't even know was possible and left absolutely nothing of them' she explained, Hinata by this point had sat up and Naruto, after remembering what he had done, got up moved away and got reacquainted with his breakfast, as Tsunade finished he came back to the group

'I really have no idea what I did or how I did it' he explained

'I think I can, but I suggest you get comfortable because this could take a while to explain' said Jiriaya sitting down, he then waited for the others to get comfortable before continuing

'During my travels I came across a legend, told in most countries with slight variations in 3, it speaks of a time when there where 12 demon beasts each with their own territory, now in most countries the 3 extra beasts aren't even named, but in the 3 with variations to the tale the only variation is that one of the otherwise unnamed demons is named in each county, of what I can gather from the legends these 3 demons where sealed within jinchuuriki just as the Kyuubi was sealed within Naruto, but where normally a jinchuuriki is outcast and no-one wants anything to do with them the legends speak of these jinchuuriki finding love, more specifically a husband or wife, they also say that each of these with the beast sealed within them watch as their love was put in mortal danger' he paused to give the information to sink in and then continued

'In each case the power of their love for the other person caused the demon to merge with them, they kept the knowledge chakra and skills of the demons gaining immense power whilst the demon was destroyed, no longer able to regenerate, from what I can gather the more powerful tailed beasts are highly intelligent and experience a wide range of emotions but are unable to experience love and as long as the host is in love with some one when they need the power of the demon to protect the one they love they subconsciously drain the demon of all it's knowledge and chakra to ensure their success and thus the demon ceases to exist' he finished, everyone looked at him blankly so he decided to see if he could prove the point

'Naruto build up your chakra, now as you know Tsunade when a jinchuuriki builds up chakra, whether it's theirs or the demons, the seal used to keep the demon in appears, but if the demon is not there for any reason the seal doesn't show' he said, to which Tsunade nodded her head in reply, Naruto then began building up chakra and to Tsunade, Hinata and Shizunes surprise the seal did not appear even when he had built up enough chakra to create a Rasengan

'I can't believe it, there's no seal, which means the Kyuubi is gone' said Tsunade amazement apparent in her voice

'Naruto, how many jutsu can you think of?' asked Jiriaya, Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment and then looked shocked

'I don't know exactly but I know I have a memory that says I know over 2000 individual and unique jutsus and some 3000 modified and subjutsus' said Naruto surprised, Jiriaya just smiled

'Now pull out one of those chakra cards and channel some chakra into it, previously you had a primary wind affinity with earth as a secondary and water was a weak third, if my guess is right I think you're going to be surprised' said Jiriaya, so Naruto pulled out a chakra card from the side pouch in his bag, which they'd sat down beside, and channelled some chakra into it, what happened surprised them all, before the card had split into 2 parts one large and one small, the split signalling a wind affinity the larger section had turned to dust whilst the smaller had gotten damp but something different happened this time.

The card once again split, but this time into four equal pieces, the individual pieces then reacted simultaneously as one turned to dust, one got wet, the third burned and the last crinkled and bubbled, Hinata, Shizune and Tsunade lost control of the muscles of their lower jaws and they promptly hit the floor, Jiriaya however just sat cross legged with his arms folded and a smile on his face

'Just as I thought, the Kyuubi had a primary fire affinity with secondary in lightening and a third weak water, the fire couldn't go over your own wind affinity so it lessened to the same strength as the lightening, the combination of yours and its increased your water affinity to the same level as the other 3 so basically you have a primary wind element with a secondary affinity of everything else so you'll have the easiest time with wind jutsu, probably not even needing hand signs and find it almost as easy with everything else, though you'll probably still need to use hand signs for the higher level jutsu in the other 4 elements and I have a feeling, with practise, you could even use the Firsts wood techniques' he explained

'So what you're saying is that that bastard of a fox is gone for good?' asked Naruto, Jiriaya nodded, Naruto quickly stood up and performed a series of hand signs and slamming his hand on the floor and said 'Summoning jutsu' a poof of white smoke appeared and as it cleared the small white fox once again appeared

'Naruto, Hinata is this for the plan?' asked the little fox happily

'No Byakko I'm afraid things didn't go according to plan, the Kyuubi is no more' said Naruto to the small fox, the fox looked at him curiously

'Oh well, not a lot that can be done, the contract for foxes still stands or I wouldn't be here and as long as you treat us well it will remain, I shall inform the others of what's happened, we all knew it was possible one day, you where his sixth jinchuuriki after all' said the little fox

'OK well I may re-summon you in a bit, I think we may need some one with a slightly happier disposition for at least the first part of the trip back' said Naruto to the fox before it disappeared with a poof of smoke, but the other 4 hadn't been paying attention, they had noticed the scars that littered his back and arms, they hadn't been able to see them before because he always kept himself covered with long sleeve tops

'Naruto what happened to your back' asked Tsunade, Narutos head dropped

'Every year on my birthday I wanted to celebrate the defeat of the Kyuubi with the rest of the village and every year on my birthday I was attacked, people tried to kill me, I've been stabbed, burned, had my joints dislocated, punched, kicked, jumped on, if you really counted I've died nearly 40 times, I've been attacked on over 300 separate occasions, I'm in my third apartment now, the first one every other tenant moved out of, they barricaded me in my apartment and set fire to the whole building, the second they broke in weekly almost daily, they would destroy or steal everything, there's only one shop that will sell me clothes I can afford and they charge me one hundred thousand ryo for just one orange jumpsuit, the only shop that will sell me food charges me one hundred and twenty ryo for one cup of instant ramen, the only place that will sell me things at a normal price is Ichirakus ramen stand, his ramen is the best but few people will go there because he serves me' he said, tears falling from his cheeks to the floor, Hinata was shocked again, she couldn't even speak, Tsunade and Shizune had tears welling and Jiriayas mouth hung open

'For 12 years I never knew why, a lot of the time I was lucky, a good number of ANBU and jonin don't see me as the Kyuubi and whenever they could they protected me, as far as I know Ibiki and Anko, the proctors for the first and second Chunin exams, have taken something of a liking to me and I know that more than one person has had a long one to one session with them because of what they did, then when it came time for us to become genin I failed the exam, I was devastated, then Mizuki came to me and said that there was a way I could still pass, I had to recover a scroll from the Hokages office and learn a technique from it, he tricked me, Iruka found me and as I finished telling Iruka what had happened Mizuki arrived, he broke the Hokages law and told me about the Kyuubi sealed within, I took him down because he tried to kill Iruka and Iruka was the first person outside the old man and those at the ramen stand to acknowledge me as a person and because I mastered the Shadow clone jutsu I was promoted to genin, it's one of the most advance clone techniques ever created' he continued, the tears flowing heavily now, he was shaking as he continued

'I wasn't helped like the rest of the kids at the academy, I've since learned that I never had a chance at doing a decent henge or illusion clone, I wasn't taught how to do them right, every person in the class was shown individually how to hold a kunai and a shuriken, again I never had a chance at hitting a target, I wasn't holding them properly, fortunately for me after Iruka gave me his head protector he asked me to show him how I held a kunai and a shuriken, he saw I was holding them wrong and showed me how to hold them right, I had asked for help for the written test to be able to do them but no-one ever would, by the time we got to be in Irukas class I had given up on the written portion and just hoped to make things up on the practical exams but that doesn't matter now, the demon is gone so maybe people will leave me alone' as he finished saying this he fell to his knees and cried heavily.

Hinata could hardly believe he'd been through so much and despite it all he always had a smile and a very positive out look, she moved behind him and wrapped him in a hug, she knew one way or another that things would be different, whether because of the Kyuubi being no more or because or because of her clans protection, things would be different for him.

Tsunade and Shizune where both crying heavily, they could hardly believe that even after everything they did to him his outlook was so positive and he had such determination to become the Hokage of the people that would have him dead, Jiriaya just sat there mouth agape, his mind had stopped functioning properly, he heard everything but hadn't been able to work it out, how was it possible that the boy was still sane.

* * *

Around 5 minutes later Naruto stopped crying and had composed himself enough to collect his shirt and swords and put them back on he then walked back to the group and picked up his bag, he then went over to Hinata and, wrapping his arm round her waist, gave her a kiss on the cheek, it was then that Hinata finally noticed and said something

'Naruto, your whisker marks, they're gone' she said quietly, causing Jiriaya, Tsunade and Shizune to look at him and what they saw shocked them more than what they had heard before, if they didn't know better they would have sworn that the boy standing in front of them was not Naruto Uzumaki but in fact The Fourth Hokage.

Tsunade stood up and walked over to Naruto she looked at him and smiled, now it made sense to her why she had been willing to make that bet with him and why he looked so familiar even though she didn't know his name

'You've earned this Naruto, in more ways than one, I know you'll make a great Hokage when I'm done' she said taking off her necklace and placing around his neck, Naruto just smiled weakly.

They walked back to the hotel, Jiriaya and Tsunade had talked and decided that they would spend another night there, Jiriaya was more or less ok, Naruto was physically never better but mentally exhausted, Hinata was a little broken mentally after hearing Narutos story and physically exhausted and Tsunade and Shizune where both mentally and physically exhausted.

* * *

So much more to come, thanks for reading this far and I hope you've enjoyed it so far

Next Chapter: The New Hokage, Preparing for the Chunin Final Exam, The Chunin Final Exam starts: Chapter 8 – A Hokages Return


	8. A Hokages Return

Power – Redefined

Chapter 8 – A Hokages Return

When I checked my veiws I found I had 7,666 so I decided that I'd add a new chapter because I'm sad like that, hope you like it

* * *

The next morning they all got up feeling physically refreshed, Naruto was in slightly higher spirits than he had been the night before but Tsunade, Shizune and Hinata where still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened yesterday, they had found that Naruto had done 2 things that most would consider completely impossible he had survived so much and then had done something that no-one would have even believed possible, the whisker marks that had once adorned his cheeks where a signal of that, they showed that he was carrying the Kyuubi and with them gone it was obvious that the Kyuubi was too.

They met at the front desk and checked out and started on their way. The trip back to Konoha was mostly uneventful, a couple of bandits had tried to attack them but after seeing Tsunade and Jiriaya they had quickly fled, They arrived in Konoha a day later with 5 days left to complete the mission and 9 left before the last part of the Chunin exams.

As they walked towards the gate one of the Chunin on guard came out to see who they where

'Who's there, state your names and reason for coming to Konoha' he said as commandingly as he could

'Jiriaya of the Sannin returning from a mission with Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga, we have Tsunade of the Sannin and her assistant Shizune with us' said Jiriaya, as soon as he'd finished the Chunin ran over to the guard booth and reached over to push a button. As soon as he'd pushed it 2 ANBU appeared

'What's the problem?' asked the ANBU wearing a dog mask, the Chunin just pointed to the group, the ANBU turned to look and immediately both ANBU where on one knee, then the ANBU wearing the tiger mask spoke

'Jiriaya of the Sanin, Tsunade of the Sanin and Naruto Uzumaki your presence is required in the Hokages office immediately, you are to come with us' he said

'Lead the way' said Jiriaya, as the group walked through the village instead of the usual cold, hateful stares that Naruto got as the villagers looked at him they instead turned pale, a few even fainted, he couldn't understand why, he didn't have the whisker marks, so what he was still the same person so what difference should it make to them but still he was glad it was a pleasant change from the stares of hatred.

They walked into the Hokages tower and where lead straight into the Hokages office, the same thing was happening though, instead of the hateful stares everyone that saw Naruto paled.

As they walked through the door they saw the Third standing behind the desk staring out of the window but there was something strange, his chair was also facing towards the window and some one with a black hood on was sitting in it, once Shizune had closed the door the Third turned round and paled a little when he saw Naruto.

'Naruto how have you gotten rid of the whisker marks, please tell me it's not just a henge' said the Third, his voice a little shaky

'No it's not a henge, I merged with and destroyed the Kyuubi' replied Naruto, then the other person who they still couldn't see spoke

'Well now, I think this is going take a long time to explain and I really want to hear this son so why don't you all grab a seat and you can explain it to me' said a light adult male voice, as soon as they heard it both Tsunade and Jiriaya paled

'M-M-Minato?' stuttered Jiriaya, "it couldn't really be him could it?" Thought the Toad Sannin, the chair slowly swivelled round to reveal Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage

'Yes Jiriaya-Sensei, it's good to see you again, Tsunade I'm glad you've finally come back to Konoha and Naruto, my son, I look forward to getting to know you' said Minato, Naruto was surprised, could this possibly the man that sealed the Kyuubi inside of him, the Legendary Yellow Flash of Konoha, THE Fourth Hokage if so then why did he keep calling him son, it didn't make sense

'Why do you keep calling me son?' asked Naruto, the fourth slowly pulled down his hood to reveal a mass of yellow hair and a face that looked almost identical except a little older to Narutos own

'Because Naruto, that's what you are, my son, your mothers name was Kushina Uzumaki, the decision was made that since your mother didn't have any enemies outside of Konoha and I knew they would all respect my final wishes, you would take on your mothers maiden name so that at least your only concern would be people from this village and most would be civilians, rather than the ANBU of other nations that would be sent to kill you to get revenge on me' explained Minato, Naruto had long since come to terms with having to have to Kyuubi sealed within him, he was the only child in his age group born within week either side of the Kyuubis attack and since it had to be a new born that left only him, he now knew that the man who sealed it within him would not have asked the village for the child when he had one of his own

'Now though Naruto it's up to you as to whether you keep your mothers name or if you want to take my name, which is Namikaze' said Minato, Naruto couldn't believe it, he finally knew one of his parents and he was the son of a Hokage, not that that was going to stop him form aiming for his dream to become the greatest Hokage ever, then a couple of things came to mind

'Has your return to Konoha been announced yet, D-Dad?' that was a new experience and one he was going to have to get used too

'Not yet, Sarutobi thought it best if he announced my return and that you where my son at the same time' replied Minato

'Hey old man, are the next part of the Chunin exams going ahead as planned?' Naruto asked Sarutobi

'Yes why?' he asked, curious as to what was going round in Narutos brain, he really was the most unpredictable ninja that Konoha had ever seen, both Minato and Kushina had been able to pull a surprise every now and again but Naruto seemed to have picked it up from both of them and then multiplied it

'Well can you change the forms so that the board shows my name as Naruto Namikaze for the last part?' he asked, it was Minato who first caught on to Narutos thought pattern and he liked it

'Brilliant Naruto, we announce my return with out telling them you're my son and then in the Chunin exam it comes up on the board leaving every one stunned and revealing you to be my son' he said with a grin matching Narutos own foxy grin that he got when he realised his father had already caught on to the idea, after Minato explained Narutos plan everyone loved the idea and it was quickly decided that that was what they'd do.

The next couple of hours where spent in the Hokages office with Naruto, Hinata, Tsunade, Shizune and Jiriaya explaining what had happened and why Naruto no longer had the whisker marks.

* * *

'I think it's time you explained to them how you came back from the dead now Minato' said Sarutobi

'Yes I suppose I should, around 4 weeks ago Narutos team was sent on a C-rank mission, the mission was a cover by a group of men I left to allow me to do this, they used technology Orochimaru had developed and discarded, when Narutos team arrived they took them all out, leaving them alive of course and took Naruto, over the course of the next 2 weeks they extracted a vial of my blood that had been hidden in Narutos body, they used it along with the technology to rapidly re-grow me a body, when I sealed the Kyuubi in Naruto the Shinigami was going to take my soul as payment' he paused to collect his thoughts

'As he was withdrawing 3 jonin already near death with no chance of survival asked that if they offered their 3 souls in place could mine be spared, the Shinigami agreed but also said my body could not live so I sealed my own soul in a very powerful seal within Narutos body, neither he nor the Kyuubi could tell I was there or access my chakra, once my body was completely re-grown they used a complex jutsu to remove my soul from Naruto and place it within my new body, it took around 2 weeks to complete my body and transfer my soul in, Naruto was then carefully taken to a hidden area of the village to sleep off the effects of the drugs before returning to Konoha, and I understand on the way he managed to unlock his mothers kekkei genkai' he explain

'Yeah I did, do I have a kekkei genkai from your side of the family?' asked Naruto

'Yes there are 2 parts to it, one is what caused you trouble in the academy, the other won't activate until you hit about 14' replied Minato

'What do you mean it caused me trouble in the academy?' asked Naruto he was very confused by this

'Try and make a standard illusion right now' said Minato, Naruto did as he was told and the illusion was exactly the same as in the academy, he created 2 but they had no colour and couldn't even get off the floor

'You can never do an illusion because you have far too much chakra, in order for some one to master illusions they need less chakra than a chunin, since our bloodline gives us more chakra than a genin when we're born by the time we get to the academy we have as much chakra as most jonin and thus can't do the jutsu, because we don't have enough control over it we put to much in and it fails, it's one of the worst techniques to be taught, but the academy bases it's teaching around the majority which means we come up short, I passed because it was known that my bloodline prevented me from doing it, I understand you passed by being betrayed and learning the shadow clone technique, I happen to know a modification to that technique that only our family has enough chakra to do, I'll teach it to you later this week' explained Minato

'Great, thanks Dad' Said Naruto

'So tell me Naruto, who is the young Hyuga that seems to be quite found of you?' asked Minato

'This is Hinata, the eldest of the Hyuga main branch, she's my girlfriend' said Naruto as he and Hinata blushed lightly

'A pleasure to meet you Hinata' said Minato, knowing that Haishi would be very pleased to hear that if he didn't already know

* * *

'Hey Sarutobi, where's Gaara these days?' asked Naruto

'Him and his brother and sister usually train in teamwork on training ground 5, they where each powerful but lacked the ability to work as a team but that changed with Gaaras attitude thanks to you and I have to say they are quite the team, since Kankuro is a close range specialist and Temari is a long range specialist, Gaara fills in wherever he is needed as he can attack with long, medium and short range techniques as well as having some excellent defensive skills' replied Sarutobi

'Alright well I think me and Hinata will go and talk to him, I want to tell him about what happened to me and how I got rid of the Kyuubi, I just hope that he can do it, later Dad' said Naruto before pulling Hinata close to him and just disappearing, leaving all 5 adults stunned

'Did he just do what I think he did?' asked Sarutobi

'No he didn't, but I can't believe he not only managed to find that technique in the Kyuubis memories but also use it' replied Minato

'What are talking about Minato?' asked Jiriaya, looking hard at his old student, Minato rested his elbows on the desk in front of him and clasped his hands together under his chin

'My family has a long history with the Kyuubi, around 300years ago he attacked a village where my family was one of the clans of at the time, my ancestors knew they could not defeat the Kyuubi in all out battle so instead the clan head talked to it and was able to reason with it enough that he offered it an agreement, the head would play a game against the Kyuubi it could be any game the Kyuubi chose as long as if he didn't know the rules he was given time to learn them, if he won the Kyuubi would leave the village in peace if he lost the Kyuubi could do what he liked, they played a game that I don't even know the name of, it didn't have a translation, the first game allowed the clan head to learn the rules it lasted around half an hour then the really game started' Minato paused and leaned back in his chair before continuing

'The game lasted for several days and it ended in a draw but my family had intrigued the Kyuubi so it stayed in it's humanoid form and stayed in the clan compound learning about them, it would seem he also figured out how a number of their techniques worked, if I'm right he improved on that one a lot, it's the predecessor to the Leaping Thunder God technique, Thunder God is actually part of the bloodline that developed from continual use of the technique you just witnessed and creates a yellow flash, hence the nickname, originally it required seven hand signs and would then create a rip in time and space that you would have to step through, if my guess is right though the Kyuubi found a way to do it without using hand signs and with out moving' he explained, every other face in the room had a single expression on it, shock.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata arrived at training ground 5 to see Gaara, Temari and Kankuro facing off against Shikamaru, Ino and Choji, they had put them in a difficult position with the sun at their side to minimise Shikamarus shadow, Gaara and Temari had created large trenches to keep Choji from rolling at them and Kankuros puppets kept Ino moving stopping her from having the time needed to use her mind control techniques, Shikamaru was quickly analysing the battle and suddenly raised his hand

'We surrender, you win, well done' he said smiling

'Hey guys, good work' said Naruto smiling as he and Hinata walked up to the 2 groups

'Hello Naruto, when did you get back?' asked Gaara, surprising his siblings at how friendly he seemed to be towards Naruto

'A few hours ago, I actually came to talk to you, I've found a way to get rid of the demon in you without killing you' he said, immediately Temari and Kankuro got ready to attack him for telling the others Gaaras secret, Shikamaru noticed this and decided to say something to them before Naruto wiped the floor with them

'Relax, Naruto has the Kyuubi sealed within him, that doesn't affect how any of us see him, we all know if he was the demon there is no way he could of pulled of all those practical jokes, just because Gaara isn't the friendliest of people doesn't mean he is a demon, I know Naruto didn't have an easy time growing up and I can't see Gaaras being any better' he said as Choji and Ino came and stood next to him before looking over to Naruto, they immediately noticed 2 things, first was that Naruto had on different clothes and, in Inos eyes at least, looked almost as hot as Sasuke, and also that he no longer had whisker marks on his cheeks

'Naruto what's happened to your whisker marks?' asked Choji, it was then that Temari and Kankuro also took a better look at him, they noticed the missing whisker marks that had defined him as the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi, Temari also noted that in his new clothes he was very hot and she found herself envying Hinata, who was standing next to him with her arm round his waist and his arm round her waist

'That's what I came to speak to Gaara about but I might as well tell you all, Shinju could you go and tell your father that I'd like to come round and talk to him later please?' he said, he then kissed Hinata lightly on the lips, earning envious looks from both Temari AND Ino

'OK Naruto' replied Hinata before running off towards the Hyuga compound, the group then sat down and Naruto then spent around an hour and half explaining what had happened to him and why his whisker marks where gone, after about 45 minutes Hinata had retuned and sat down next to him, he had wrapped his arm around her as she leaned against his shoulder, again earning envious looks from both Temari and Ino, which this time did not go unnoticed, but Naruto didn't care, Sakura would keep Ino in line for him and Gaara would keep his sister in line.

* * *

Around an hour after he had finished explaining everything to the group Naruto and Hinata finished talking to them, went and got something to eat at Ichirakus and moved on to the Hyuga compound. When they arrived they spoke with Haishi and collected the items they'd had sent ahead, Hinata then went up stairs to her room and got changed whilst Naruto and Haishi talked, Haishi was very impressed with the camouflage styles and said he would suggest it to the council, he asked Naruto if he minded if he didn't tell the council where he got the idea, Naruto replied that he should tell them in a couple of weeks and tell them exactly where he got the idea, when Haishi said that they would never accept it if it came from him and asked why he should wait a couple of weeks Naruto just replied that it would be worth the wait for him to find out.

After about 20 minutes Hinata came back down wearing a black t-shirt with the words 'I'm hot, but keep looking at these and my boyfriend will kill you' written in white on it and a pair of black baggie jeans, Haishis mouth dropped and his eyes went wide, Naruto had come prepared expecting an interesting reaction and quickly whipped out a camera and took a picture of the dumbstruck Hyuga head. When Haishi came back to his senses after about 5 minutes he was originally going to kick Naruto six ways to Sunday and back again, then when he thought about it for a moment he realised 2 things, the first was that the t-shirt actually had a true statement on it and the second was that the only way Hinata could wear a t-shirt like that was if Naruto had had a huge effect on her confidence, neither of which he could actually complain at, so he let it go.

* * *

Over the next week a lot happened, Narutos name was secretly changed on the forms and the people doing it where told that if they didn't keep quiet about it they would find themselves out of a job and behind bars for breaking the personal information privacy lease they signed when they started work and considered traitors for putting a member of Konoha in unnecessary danger, Minatos return and re-instatement as the Fourth Hokage was announced and just in case any of the village where sceptical, as he figured they might be, the entire council, including Danzo, who everyone knew was against the Third, backed them up, Danzo had respect for Minato as it was discovered by Naruto that Minato was the reason he was badly maimed but alive rather than badly maimed and dead, he also had something of an understanding with Minato whereby whilst neither liked the others policies as long as each met certain requirements then they would form a united front whenever need against the council on something that didn't affect the other.

Danzo had also said to Naruto privately that whilst he openly wanted Naruto to be a part of ROOT if he had really wanted him to be there was a lot more he could have done to get him there, he just did the minimum he needed too to make the council think he was more with them than with Sarutobi, according to Danzo he had even had some of ROOTs special civilians, Shinobi training to blend into the crowds, watch him and had even doubled the number in the village on his birthday, they had something of a gift for spiking drinks to the point that people couldn't even stand never mind walk.

Naruto had spoken with Haishi and after seeing how much her gentle fist skills had improved whilst she'd been away and learning that she had also mastered the Rasengan agreed that Naruto should also learn the Gentle Fist style and if the council tried to do something Haishi said he would do something about them, he knew it wouldn't be that simple but he also knew that if they tried to hurt Naruto they where in for a world of hurt but if they tried to hurt Hinata only god could help them, he had also learned that the altered Byakugan was called Junkagan, he also decided that the entire council would go to the chunin final exams 'so they could see the progress of Neji' was the reason he gave but he had long known about Naruto being Minatos son but could do nothing to help him because of the council, since Naruto had gotten with Hinata though it made it easier because it became a case of 'to assist him in protecting the clan heir' regardless of whether the elders thought they would arrange Hinatas marriage or not since an agreement between Minato and Haishi had been formed.

After Minato found out that Kushina would be having a boy and Haishi found out that Tansei (I can't find a reference to Hinatas mothers name so I decided to use this as it means graceful) was having a girl that they would form an official arranged marriage agreement, that stated should the children at any point become a couple that they would be unable to have a marriage to another other person even if they where to separate, they also made sure to formalise it with Sarutobi to ensure that no matter what happened as long as the 2 got together then Hinata would be safe, the original plan had been to have the 2 grow up together in the hope that they would develop the relationship on their own, but because of the attack that didn't happened.

Chance had decided they would be together anyway and Hinata was safe, after all, the first had made sure to put a law in place when Konoha was founded that said that the clan head could create an arrange marriage without the consent of the rest of the clan and this marriage and it's formal written conditions would be the binding agreement to aid fathers in protecting their daughters from bad marriages created solely for the furtherment of the clan by the clan council, Kushina had happened across it whilst researching old laws in the library trying to find one that would help protect her from having to take Minatos last name and put them both as well as Naruto in danger, she had found that if a ninja had earned a reputation in war that caused them to be a regular target of assassination attempts then the wife and children to protect all parties involved could keep the maiden name of the wife

When she told Haishi and Minato they decided that it would be for the best if the children where to at least be given the opportunity to form a relationship, if it failed they would explain the arranged marriage to them and ask them to give it a shot for a few months and as long as both children agreed then Hinata would still be safe.

Naruto trained hard with Hinata and also with team 7, he also noticed that Sasuke was becoming frustrated, Sakura was being taught by Tsunade, Jiriaya and Minato both taught himself and Kakashi couldn't teach him what he need to know, he wasn't getting any stronger and despite Naruto having gained an insane jump in skill already he was still becoming stronger, it became more apparent in their team training sessions where he would tire first because he didn't have the reserves of Naruto or the control of Sakura, he knew that he wasn't a match for Itachi and he felt that he wasn't advancing quick enough.

Naruto did manage to persuade him that as long as he did the last part of the chunin exams it would be possible for Kakashi and the other sensei to have a really good idea of what he needed to work on and how they would be best to teach him what he needed to get stronger.

* * *

The group that had successfully passed the preliminary round where assembled in the coliseum for the finals, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro stood talking to Naruto and Shikamaru, Sasuke sat brooding, Shino stood betraying nothing, Neji waited patiently, the Rain Ninja was meditating and the Rock Ninja stared daggers at every one, he hated the Leaf and now it appeared that almost all that where left where Leaf, he was sure that there had been a sound, a water and three from Suna but he couldn't remember what the three from Suna looked like. Hayate Gekko appeared in front of the Hokages private booth, Naruto quickly glanced up and flashed a small smile which the Fourth returned, just as a father would to his son, only Shikamaru was paying enough attention to see the smile, it got his curiosity but he decided to wait till after the matches.

'I'm Hayate Gekko, Proctor for the, cough, chunin exam finals. The decision has, cough, been made that with the disqualification, cough, of the sound village and, cough, therefore Dosu Kinuta and, cough, with Amaya Shimane of the mist village having decide to retire from being a ninja, cough, and become a civilian the match ups for the final, cough, chunin exam will be reselected at random by computer, cough' as he finished two boards on the wall behind him moved down to reveal LCD screens already flashing through names in yellow.

After 20 seconds the board finally flashed up with 2 names Gaara no Sabaku vs. Isamu Miyazaki, Hayate looked at the board and then turned to the genin

'The first match will be, cough, between Gaara no Sabaku of Konoha and, cough, Isamu Miyazaki of Iwa all other participants, cough, are to leave the arena and wait in the stands' said the proctor, Naruto turned to Gaara

'Give him hell but try a leave him alive, they hate Konoha so it's more humiliating to send them back alive after losing to one of us than to kill them' he said with a smirk, Gaara smirked when he heard this, he still had no qualms with killing but humiliation was even more fun, he decided it would be even better if he could get the rock ninja to give up and he thought he might just have the plan to do it. The rest of the genin where in the stands watching, Naruto had gone to sit next to Hinata and Kiba, the Hyuga elders noticed but knew it wasn't the time to bring it up, the rest went to the main waiting area

'Now then are you both ready?' asked Hayate, after receiving a firm nod from both he proceeded 'The match between Gaara of Konoha and Isamu of Iwa, begin' he said bringing his arm down and then jumping out the way, the rock ninja quickly started flashing through hand signs, whilst Gaara just stood there with his sand slowly seeping out of the gourd on his back, as the rock ninja ended his sequence he shouted

'EARTH STYLE: GROUND WAVE BURIAL' he slammed his hands on the floor and the floor slowly started to rise up, it travelled towards Gaara like an ocean wave and crashed over the top of him, everyone in the arena was shocked, that is except Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Hinata, Temari and Kankuro, Naruto and Sasuke both had their Sharingan active, Neji and Hinata had their Junkagan active and Temari and Kankuro just knew their little brother, he was toying with his opponent, the ground where Gaara had been standing slowly spread upwards and a ball of sand could been seen coming out of the ground

'Is that the best you've got?' asked Gaara in a monotone voice opening the sand ball to reveal his face, if this was it he was going to get very bored very quickly and it wasn't going to take long, just as he expected the rock ninja charged at him drawing a kunai, he lowered the sand into it's free flowing form and used it to block the attacks, but every time he did he let a little bit of his sand slip into his opponents clothes.

After around 5 minutes of the rock ninja constantly attacking he lunged at Gaara and then suddenly fell down, clutching his groin, Gaara just stepped out of the way of the falling ninja and smirked

'I suggest you give up your or you'll lose three very valuable friends' said Gaara again using a monotone voice, but for the few that knew to look for it there was a glint of amusement in his eyes, the rock ninja slowly raised a hand from his crotch and spoke in a voice slightly higher than his normal one

'I surrender' he said, before passing out from relief as Gaaras sand retreated from his most valuable of areas, everyone was shocked, even Temari and Kankuro couldn't work out what had happened, Naruto however winced at the thought but smiled at Gaaras method, Hinata saw the flinch and the smile and got really curious

'Naruto what did he do?' she asked, Naruto contemplated for a moment before answering

'Every time the rock ninja attacked the sand with his hands or feet Gaara sent a small amount of sand into his clothes, not enough to be noticed but after a while it built up and gathered between his legs, at which point Gaara basically used a much smaller version of his desert funeral on the guys crotch, slowly crushing them to get the ninja to surrender, it was crude but very effective and very well planned' he replied, Kiba winced hard when he heard Gaaras method.

'The winner of this match by, cough, surrender is Gaara no Sabaku of Konoha' said Hayate, Gaara moved to the stands whilst the rock ninja moved over to the medic stand, to ensure his family jewels where still usable, as they did the board started flashing through the remaining names again and Naruto used the same technique as he'd used to leave the Hokages office, much to the surprise of the Hyuga elder that had been watching him sit next to Hinata with hate in his eyes, when he saw him use the technique he thought "maybe he isn't so bad after all".

'Crude but effective my friend' said Naruto appearing next to Gaara smiling, Gaara looked at him and saw the glint in his eye, he smiled seeing his first and best friends approval and happiness in his methods

'I'm glad you liked it, when you told me about sending him back humiliated, I thought what's more humiliating than returning alive? Returning alive without a scratch after surrendering and the best way to do that to a guy is to hit him where it hurts' he replied with a slightly sadistic tinge to his smile, you don't grow up having to kill to stay alive without starting to gain at least a little pleasure from causing pain, just then the next 2 names flipped up on the board, Hayate looked at the names and then turned to the genin

'Kankuro no Sabaku, cough, and, cough, Shino Aburame please come to the, cough, arena for your match' said Hayate, Kankuro was already well aware of Shinos skills and his bugs feeding on chakra meant trouble for him, he couldn't win, they both jumped into the centre of the arena and Kankuro immediately spoke

'There's no point in having this match, it's avoidable and I already know I can't win so I concede' he said surprising the stadium, the Kage and Daimyo watching where disappointed at not seeing him fight, but all understood the importance of surrendering early, they where both leaf shinobi so why should they fight if one already knew he couldn't win, it makes more sense to allow the other to save his strength, as you would for any avoidable attack you flee to save your strength for when you have no choice, they decided that a few may be like that and if so they would hold exhibition matches at the end to be able to see them fight.

Again the board started flashing through names and around 25 seconds later the second name stop spinning and Hayate looked confused for a moment before announcing the names

'Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Namikaze, cough, please come to the arena for your match' said the proctor

* * *

A little cliff hanger for you, what will the crowd's reaction be?

Next chapter: more matches from the chunin exams: Chapter 9 – The Fights


	9. The Fights

Power – Redefined

Chapter 9 – The Fights

Please remember the poll at the end of chapter 5, the results are currently tied and I need a few more votes soon, you have just 1 chapter remaining after this before the results of the poll are required, if at the end of that time there is no clear winner I will make the desicion myself, thanks for reading and if you did voting

* * *

At first the crowd was silent as the 2 made their way to the arena floor, both opting to take the stairs. They made their way to the centre of the arena and stood opposite each other, Sasuke still considered Naruto an idiot and as such thought that his best bet would be to outsmart him knowing he was far faster and far stronger than he used to be.

As they stood waiting the crowd started shouting things like 'why should that monster be allowed to use the Hokages name' and 'he's not fit to use the name of our Hokage' needless to say Minato was not pleased at hearing what they were shouting, he used the Leaping Thunder God technique and appeared beside the proctor.

'SILENCE' he shouted and immediately every person in the coliseum was silent 'Now then, Naruto has every right to use my name, the same as every other child has the right to use his father's name' he said in a normal voice, the entire crowd was in a state of shock, with the exception of those who already knew, even the other genin where in shock at the revelation, the Hyuga elders where in the worst state of any as, the demon brat who was with the Hyuga heiress was the son of the Fourth and it was the Fourth himself who told them, they certainly couldn't brand him a liar. Minato then turned to Naruto and spoke to him

'Good luck son, not that I think you'll need it' he said ruffling the boy's already unruly hair, Naruto looked at him smiling broadly

'Thanks Dad' he said, Minato then used the same technique to return to his seat and Hayate looked between the 2 boys in front of him, he didn't need to ask if they were ready, he could feel it coming from both of them, they'd been waiting for this match for a while and they were both more than ready deciding it was in the best interests of his health he raised his hand

'Begin' he said dropping his hand and quickly jumping out the way as Sasuke instantly ran at Naruto drawing a kunai, Naruto waited till the last moment before disappearing from view and reappeared standing behind Sasuke with his right side facing him and a kunai held in his right hand held in front of Sasukes throat, for most this would have been the point to surrender but Sasuke and Naruto weren't most.

Sasuke had charged holding a kunai in his left hand and now held a second in his right aimed at Narutos crotch. Both boys jumped back and smiled

'I'm impressed Naruto, you've gotten good, let's see how good you really are' said Sasuke

'By all means, show me what ya got' replied Naruto, as soon as he'd finished Sasuke started flashing through the hand signs for his grand fireball, Naruto also started going through signs but too fast for anyone to see he seemed to be doing 6 for Sasukes 1 and only Hinata, Neji and Kakashi, who had uncovered his Sharingan eye knowing he was going to need it to watch the match could see Sasukes hand signs, Sasuke was shocked at how fast Naruto was going through seals, as Sasuke finished the signs for the grand fireball Naruto seemed to finish the signs for his jutsu and he said the name leaving everyone in shock

'Mezurashii Tatari no Doku Mizuumi jutsu' said Naruto, the technique was well known by the older generation as a powerful technique that could stop any opponent in their tracks but because of the 200 plus hand signs and the large amount of chakra needed for it, it was kept in a scroll on its own in the Hokages tower and never taught, only once a ninja reached jonin where they told of its existence, all were offered the chance to learn it and informed of the number of signs and the amount of chakra need, the chakra levels meant that, other than Naruto and Minato, only a hand full of jonin and ANBU had the chakra to do it even once a day and if they did they would need all their chakra and be useless after they had done it.

For Sasuke the world froze and then it started moving again for a split second and then went black, Naruto then casually walked up once again performing hand signs at very high speed apparently not even noticing the chakra drain as he reached Sasuke he finished the signs and placed 2 fingers on his forehead

'Yori onmi kidate jutsu' he said, again all of the older ninja where shocked, this technique had 159 signs to it and required the equivalent chakra to a chunin about to become a jonin, that is if your chakra control was perfect, it could take anything up to ANBU level chakra reserves to perform, they knew Naruto had already used the equivalent of around kage level chakra and now he was using easily jonin level chakra reserves, the technique was another that was sealed away because of the amount of chakra needed, but it's effect was to force almost all of a person's chakra out of their body, transforming it to nature chakra and giving it to the earth around them to grow plants, finished with the technique Naruto released it and soon after Sasuke woke up, he could only just stand, Naruto however didn't even look as if he'd done anything.

* * *

'Kakashi-sensei what are those techniques Naruto used?' asked Sakura, Ino, Hinata and Kiba where sitting nearby and listened intently to Kakashis reply

'They are 2 of the most draining techniques for a user I've ever heard of, the first instantly stops the target no matter where they are in relation to the user but the price is high, it requires almost the same amount of chakra as a jonin bordering on ANBU level would have in their entire body, the second turns all of the victims chakra into the nature chakra that plants use and then forces almost all of it out into the ground below it requires chakra equal to a high level chunin with perfect chakra control never mind the near ANBU level Naruto would need and Naruto doesn't even look like he's done anything' replied Kakashi, Sakura and Ino didn't believe him and Hinata and Kiba could hardly believe him, Ino turned to Asuma and Guy who were standing next to Kakashi

'Is that true, they really require that much chakra?' she asked, Asuma simply nodded

'Yes, even we can't use one of those techniques without running the risk that we could be completely drained of chakra, I've seen the first one used once by Jiriaya of the Sanin, he couldn't even stand afterwards he'd used so much chakra and like Kakashi said Naruto doesn't even look like he's done anything, when you've spent as much time fighting as we have you sort of develop a sixth sense to tell you how much chakra an opponent has left, it helps to know whether you should stay and fight or run, I can't tell exactly how much he has left but I know this much, he could use both techniques again and still not be affected' said Guy, at this both Sakura and Ino got hearts in their eyes, they had heard from Sasuke and Shikamaru about Narutos Fuengan and how powerful it was, this meant that he made basically every other ninja in the village seem like they were weak, Hinata saw this and decided to say something about it

'Back off you 2 he's with me and you'll find that he's not going to change that' she said softly but firmly, neither of the other girls had heard her use such a voice and had both heard that she had mastered the Rasengan, which had widely been considered one of the most powerful techniques in Narutos arsenal, quicker than Naruto had, they knew it would be best not to mess with her.

"How did you get so powerful Naruto, you didn't even use the foxes chakra and you've used more chakra than the Third and me have combined" thought Kakashi

* * *

At first the crowd was surprised that the Uchiha had been defeated so easily, then they remembered that his opponent was the son of the genius Fourth Hokage so it wasn't all that surprising that he lost but despite that the easy of his defeat was a complete shock, Sasuke tried to launch an attack with a kunai, he figured a technique that could drain him so much must have taken at least as much from Naruto, as he swung Naruto just flowed round it and as Sasuke lost his balance and fell, Naruto caught him

'Careful Sasuke, you've only just got enough chakra left to live you can't fight' he said calmly and just to prove he still had chakra left he created a shadow clone which lifted Sasuke and held him up, Hayate looked on amazed, coming to his senses he realised that this match could only have one winner, Naruto wasn't even showing signs of being tired never mind signs that he was low on chakra

'I'm stopping this, cough, match due to, cough, combatant, cough, exhaustion, winner Naruto Namikaze, cough' said the proctor, the crowd was shocked, particularly Ino and Sakura but none could argue that Sasuke could barely stand never mind fight and Naruto didn't even look like he'd done anything never mind some of the most chakra draining techniques ever created. The clone and the original Naruto then appeared next to the group, Naruto sat down and kissed Hinata whilst his clone sat down Sasuke next to Sakura spoke to her

'Take care of him, he's out of energy and needs to relax' the clone said before disappearing, Kakashi then walked forward and leaned down beside Naruto

'Could I speak with you a moment?' he asked

'Sure' Replied Naruto looking into his eyes as he still hadn't put his head protector back down to cover his Sharingan eye.

* * *

The next thing Kakashi knew he was standing in a strange desert he looked around and saw Naruto standing to the right of him, he turned to face the genin soon to be, he was sure, chunin

'Where are we?' he asked confused about his surroundings, Naruto just smiled

'We're in a dojutsu I can create called Kakeme' replied Naruto

'So this is what it's like, why did you use it on me?' he asked

'Simple, as far as anyone will see this will happen in a split second, they won't even know we've talked so it gives us privacy as well as time to talk and we don't miss anything' replied Naruto

'Fair enough, so tell me, when did you learn those techniques and when did your chakra reserves get so big? I've seen Itachi use Tsukuyomi and it took a lot out him, Sasuke told me that you where hardly affected last time you used this technique, but to use those 2 first and still be able to perform this and by the look on your face I'd say you won't even notice the chakra needed for this missing' said Kakashi

'You're right as usual Kakashi-Sensei, in short I merged with the Kyuubi' Naruto said like it was nothing, he watched Kakashis eyes go wide and then continued 'When we found Tsunade she had already been approached by Orochimaru to fix his arms, we came up with a plan that didn't go through, it would seem that Orochimaru predicted it and had some of his goons waiting to take us on, I'd just finished off my opponent and felt a little sick from my first kill, I looked over and saw Hinata take a serious injury and I lost it' he paused giving Kakashi time to absorb the information before he carried on

'I took out the guy fighting her with a very powerful Rasengan and then moved on to Shizunes, Tsunades and Jiriayas, destroying them all the same way, I subconsciously accessed the Kyuubis knowledge and found a very powerful technique which I used on Orochimaru and the guy that seemed to be his assistant' he said, watching with amusement the look of sheer shock that was plastered on to Kakashis face

'So what happened with the Kyuubi? I would have expected it to be the dominant personality if you merged with it' said Kakashi narrowing his eyes as though he were looking at a traitor, Naruto couldn't help but laugh, it was exactly the reaction he expected

'Jiriaya was the one that knew what had happened, he'd come across a couple of old legends, one spoke of a time when there where 12 demons, the other explained what happened to the other 3, in most cases the 3 where unnamed but in three countries a different one of the 3 was given a name, each spoke of them being sealed within a jinchuuriki and that jinchuuriki doing what is impossible for most – finding love. The legends said that upon the jinchuuriki seeing the one they loved in mortal danger they tapped into the demons power and merged with it, with their love peaked they absorbed all of the demons chakra and knowledge and destroyed the demon, the same happened to me. If I had become the demon the whisker marks that I had would have become more defined, my canines would have grown longer and my eyes would be red' he explained

'So you did the impossible, I should have known that if anyone could merge with a demon it would be you, I'd also like to apologise Naruto, I didn't follow my own advise to look underneath the underneath, if I had of done I would have realised you where Minato-Senseis son' replied Kakashi, Naruto smiled at his Senseis belief that he was a complete idiot, he didn't give Kakashi anywhere near as much grief as his personality meant he should've done to get him to train him

'Kakashi-Sensei, knowing me would you have expected me to give up as easily as I did do, all those times when you focused on Sasuke instead of training us all?' he asked sincerely, Kakashi was surprised at this question and when he thought about it, it really didn't make sense that gave it up so easily

'Now you mention it, I am kind of surprised you didn't pester me further, how come you didn't?' he asked, curios now, Naruto just smiled

'It's simple Kakashi, I'd spent a lot of time whilst I was in the academy and before in the Hokages tower, after the Uchiha massacre I heard most of them talking about the precious 'last Uchiha' I knew they where talking about the brooding idiot and so when I was put on the same team as him I realised I never really had a chance of getting your full attention because the council would be putting pressure on the old man, and therefore you, to focus on training the genius Uchiha instead of the dead last demon brat and the fan girl' replied Naruto, Kakashi cringed when he heard Naruto refer to himself as the demon brat, knowing full well it was likely that he was called it directly by one of the council members.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile happily, Naruto had known full well that the council was never going to allow Kakashi to train him so had in fact been very grateful to Kakashi for finding him good Senseis to teach him, even if he didn't like them but in order for any one to buy in to him being a loud mouthed idiot he had to make it seem like he didn't have a clue, Kakashi was amazed at how time and again Naruto deliberately made himself look bad to gain the upper hand but this fight hand been different, he'd decided it was finally time to show them that he was no pushover, in fact the only advantage most jonin would have over him would be experience and that wouldn't do a lot of good against some one who could even surprise himself and Iruka, despite his appearance as a chunin Iruka had in fact served alongside him for quite a while as an ANBU captain, easily capable of matching most of the jonin and a large number of the ANBU even at this point.

'I must say I'm impressed Naruto, you played the fool and in doing so played everybody else for one, but tell me, why didn't you do better with the illusions if you where so good?' asked Kakashi

'I couldn't do them, I still can't for that matter, my dad can't either, I trust you know of the levels of chakra we have even at a young age?' Naruto said it as much as a statement as he did a question and when Kakashi nodded he continued 'Because of that, combined with our limited chakra control that takes many years to master we tend to overload the basic illusions, so whilst it looks like we fail because we don't put enough in instead they get overloaded and fail, jonin tend not to use them, but most would find that if they tried they couldn't, they have too much chakra, if I'd had space to make around a thousand of them they would have been fine' he explained

'Oh, so you aren't actually able to create them' said Kakashi, his eyes a little wider than normal because of the surprising news, Naruto shook his head

'One last thing, what am I supposed to say after you release this? I just asked to speak to you and it's going to be pretty obvious you've done something' said Kakashi

'That one I thought about before I even brought you in to the technique, your words will be 'actually we'll talk later, we can't afford you missing your next match' said Naruto with a smile on his face, Kakashi was once again amazed at just how intelligent Naruto actually was, he'd had a cover story planned before he'd even executed what he'd need it for, Naruto then released the technique and they returned, Kakashi remembered what he needed to say quickly as Naruto moved to get up as though he'd only just asked to speak to him

'Actually we'll talk later, we can't afford you missing your next match' Kakashi said with, his eyes showing that he was smiling

'OK, Kakashi-Sensei' Replied Naruto settling back down again and wrapping his arm around Hinata, as he turned round the next 2 names flashed up on the board

'Temari no Sabaku, cough, and Sensu Kara please, cough, come to the arena for your, cough, match' said Hayate, both genin just jumped into the arena and stood facing each other, Hayate looked to Temari

'Ready?' he asked, she nodded in response, he turned to the rain ninja, like Temari he had a fan on his back, or more precisely 2 smaller ones, each went from his shoulder to the bottom of his back in a cross pattern, he wore a light blue vest and black trousers and no shoes, his hair was very strange being black on one side and silver on the other both sides went down to just past his shoulders where it was cut straight across, his eyes where also unusual the irises where gold on the outer edge fading to blue by the pupil, his face looked almost like a curved V and his nose seemed to fit to his face perfectly

'Don't hold back, I want to test myself against a fellow fan user, who if I'm not mistaken is at least 2 levels ahead of me' said the boy, his voice was smooth, almost silky, it held no bitterness, in fact if it held any emotions it would be respect and determination

'Very well then let's see what yav got' replied Temari, Hayate raised his hand

'The match between Temari no Sabaku of Konoha and Sensu Kara of Ame, begin' he said bringing his arm down and quickly jumping out the way, both genin jumped back, Temari pulled out her fan and immediately opened it to 2 dots, Sensu pulled out both fans and opened them both fully, he understood full well the one weakness of the large fan, you couldn't open it fully until you where warmed up or you would pull muscles, he moved his arms up and swiftly brought them down again

'Hurricane sisters' jutsu' he said as 2 strong bursts of wind came from his fans, for most this would be a powerful attack not easily nullified as the winds spun together to form a small tornado that went straight for Temari, bringing her fan up to her left shoulder she swiftly brought it down and cancelled out the jutsu as the dust cleared and settled back down Sensu was shocked, her fan was fully open

'How did you open it fully without tearing any muscles?' he asked her, she smiled

'It's simple I've already trained to the point where I tore my muscles every time I did it then I tried to find a way to open it to 3 straight away without tearing muscles, many people know of the weakness of the larger fans and most try to end a battle quickly before the wielder has time to open it to it's fullest, at which point the winds are almost unstoppable and for most the battle is impossible to win, I learned a way to over come that weakness and open my fan to it's fullest right from the start, I figured that if I opened my fan to 2 you'd think the same thing and try to end it with one your most powerful attacks and unless that was around half your power your no match for me' she replied and then to show she wasn't bluffing pulled her fan up to her right shoulder and sent a blast 50percent stronger than his at him

Despite a quick blast from his own fans to nullify some of the attack he was still pushed right back to the arena wall, when he looked up he realised that he was no match for her, despite having trained to use the larger fan as well, he had also found that weakness but had been unable to find a way to overcome it and had thus reverted to using 2 of the smaller fans, she had obviously realised this as well and knew that even if they where matched with the large fans using his 2 small ones he was no match for her, he raised his hand

'I can see when I'm truly out matched, I give up, thank you for showing me that I chose the right path' he said, he was trying to give her the impression that he had not gotten to that level but Temari knew otherwise, both then moved back into the stands and the last 2 names came straight up on the screen

Neji Hyuga vs. Shikamaru Nara

This promised to be an interesting match as all of the rookies knew, they knew that despite Neji being hailed as a genius Shikamaru was in fact a true genius and this match could easily go either way.

Neji jumped clear into the arena and landed in his starting position, Shikamaru however demonstrated just how lazy he could be and just how easy it was for him to control his chakra by walking up one of the walls and round onto the arena wall before walking down the wall onto the floor. He walked into the centre and appeared to get ready, to go to sleep, he stood in a taijutsu stance with his eyes half closed and his body limp, to most it seemed as though a strong gust of wind would knock him over. Hayate stood in between the two and raised his hand

'The final match of round one, cough, between Neji Hyuga, cough, of Konoha and Shikamaru, cough, Nara of Konoha, begin' he said quickly lowering his hand and jumping out the way, Neji quickly ran forward and tried to use the gentle fist style to try and close his chakra points, Shikamaru lazily dodged and to many it looked like Neji was landing what would normally be counted as good hits for the gentle fist style to Naruto, Hinata, Haishi, Hanabi and the rest of the Hyugas present it was quite apparent Shikamaru had already worked out how to beat the gentle fist style, as each strike landed or glanced by him he would send chakra to that area to counter act the chakra Neji sent in to try and close the points and since he was only using it inside his body he wasn't using any and by varying the amount he used he prevented Neji from forcing it through, then suddenly Neji stopped moving

'Shadow possession jutsu success. You where so busy focusing on hitting me you didn't notice me form the seals and use my shadow' said Shikamaru smiling

'How though? You never brought your hands together' asked Neji shocked, Shikamaru just carried on smiling

'I realised that in moving combat I would have a disadvantage, needing time to perform the hand signs and manipulate my shadow, so I worked on a method to create the seals with my hands separated whilst still getting them to work and succeeded, I knew that against the likes of you, Naruto and Sasuke who preferred close quarters hand to hand combat I would be at a disadvantage, unable to get the time needed to form my hand signs and activate my jutsu, I realised I would need to keep you attacking me whilst doing minimal damage to give me the time I needed, it takes a little longer than normal but it's a small price to pay for the benefits' he explained, Neji smiled, Shikamaru was a true genius, this technique wasn't just useful now, it would be of great use in the future as well

'Congratulations Shikamaru, you win' said Neji smiling and as Shikamaru released his shadow Neji reached out his hand to shake Shikamarus

'Winner Shikamaru Nara, cough, the next match will be between Gaara no Sabaku and Shino Aburame' said Hayate, Shino then stepped to the edge of the stand

'I forfeit this match, I do not wish to endanger my symbiotic companions in a battle I will lose but could avoid before it starts' he said, this didn't really surprise anyone after seeing how Gaara handled his last opponent

'Very well, winner by forfeit, Gaara no Sabaku, the next match is between Naruto Namikaze and Temari no Sabaku, please come to the arena' said Hayate, Temari had decided that despite not having a chance she wanted to see how well she could do against the boy that defeated and then befriended her younger brother she jumped into the arena. Naruto kissed Hinata on the cheek and then just disappeared to reappear in the arena.

* * *

'You're a lucky girl, you know that Hinata?' said Sasuke, surprising everyone

'What makes you say that?' she asked, Sasuke smiled genuinely

'He's probably the most powerful ninja in the world now and he gained that power for you and you alone, he made defeating me, the rookie of the year, seem as effortless as reading a book, and he's already spoken to Kakashi-Sensei using Kakeme' he replied still smiling and surprising everyone including Kakashi

'How did you know?' asked Kakashi

'I still had my sharingan active and had gained just enough chakra for it to activate for a moment, it doesn't need any where near as much as it used to, in that split second I looked at him whilst he looked at you and saw his Fuengan activate and deactivate, I instantly realised what he'd done, I wouldn't even of seen it if he hadn't of increased the power of my Sharingan' Sasuke explained, Hinata just smiled and looked back to the arena, she knew that something had changed in Sasuke when he lost so easily, and it was thanks to Naruto, he had realised that Naruto had gained his strength because of his love for Hinata, he hadn't been able to gain strength as quickly because of his desire for revenge but that was going to change, he knew several girls wanted to be with him but which one deserved the chance the most.

* * *

In the arena Temari looked across at the young blonde that she was about to face when suddenly his eyes flashed with five black stars, or at least she thought they did, it had only been for a moment and now she couldn't be sure Hayate stepped between them

'Ready?' he asked looking at Naruto who nodded without taking his eyes off Temaris Hayate turned to Temari 'Ready?' he asked again and again got a nod in response Temari also not taking her eyes off Narutos 'Begin' said Hayate swiftly dropping his hand and then jumping out the way but as his hand passed Narutos eyes they turned to the five stars and when Hayates hand was out the way they looked straight at Temari, she was shocked but had no time to react as the world faded to black around her and she found herself in a strange desert. She saw Naruto standing in front of her the same distance away as he had been before

'Y'know, you made a big mistake bringing me to this place where ever it is' she said with a smile, Naruto just smirked and then vanished

'Not really, you see this is my jutsu and I control everything in here' he said from behind her right shoulder, she quickly spun round to face him, he was smiling now, not smirking but smiling genuinely

'I have a feeling you want to ask me something' he said calmly, she was shocked but didn't show it

'And what makes you think that?' she asked smiling back, the boy was good it was no wonder he beat Gaara, Gaara would struggle against him to begin with

'Otherwise you wouldn't have entered the arena, if you really wanted to test yourself against me you would have challenged me to a sparing match after the exam was over' he replied, she couldn't deny he was right

'I wanted to know 2 things, firstly was why did you help and then befriend my little brother?' she asked

'And second?' he asked in reply

'If you would be interested in a date after the exam is over?' she asked with a light blush on her cheeks, Naruto smiled

'To answer your second question first, I am already spoken for but I think Sasuke might be worth your time and if my guess is right he should be receptive now' said Naruto still smiling, Temari felt disappointed but if Naruto was going to recommend a guy that was good enough for her 'And in regards to your brother, as you well know I was a jinchuuriki and I think I probably had it the worse of the 2 of us, Gaara had his sand which protected him of it's own free will and was generally attacked by only one person at a time, as for me I was usually attacked by groups of 20 or more and even if I could have fought back it just wasn't in my nature to do so, but I knew that the one thing he needed was a friend without mine I wouldn't have a reason to go on living and without Hinata I probably wouldn't be alive today, if she hadn't of nearly died when I went after Orochimaru for the second time then I never would have gained the power I did and Orochimaru probably would have made sure I died that day' he explained, she could hear the honesty in his voice

'Just as long as you don't turn your back on him' she said harshly

'I never turn my back on my friends and I never take back my words, for that is my nindo, my ninja way' he said quietly but with such conviction she could hardly believe it

'So what happens now?' she asked

'Now I will use this jutsu to put you to sleep and in a couple of minutes you will wake up having lost the match, as far as anyone will know you will have just passed out' he replied and the world went black, true to his word she woke up a few minutes later with Gaara and Kankuro looking at her

'What happened?' she asked groggily

'You just fell down when the match started, he waited 2 minutes and then called the match in Narutos favour. Naruto then picked you up and brought you to us, I was going to hit him but Gaara stopped me, he then waited whilst Gaara created a bed of sand for you and he put you on it and said you'd wake up in a few minutes, the next match will get under way soon but Gaara asked if we could wait till you woke up and Naruto backed him up so the Hokage OK'd it' said Kankuro

'And now that you are awake, I have a match against the toughest opponent I have ever faced' said Gaara, his voice sounding level and monotone to most but both Kankuro and Temari heard something in it they never expected: excitement. Naruto Namikaze: he was certainly a good influence on their brother and they where glad of it.

'Gaara no Sabaku and Naruto Namikaze will now come to the arena for the final match' Said Hayate

* * *

And that's the end of chapter 9

Next chapter: The final match of the chunin exams, Inrtoductions, Engagement: Chapter 10 - Revelations of the Present


	10. Revelations of the Present

Power – Redefined

Chapter 10 – Revelations of the Present

**I've decided to ask all those aspiring artists reading this if they could do images for Naruto and Hinatas new looks based on the descriptions in earlier chapters, I would prefer one of them together in some way and I'll use it as to image on my profile for others to see, the winner will also get to create an OC either by image or description which I will add to the story as soon as I can after the winner is decided, there is currently no set dead line for this challenge and I will put up a notice after I've had a few applications as to how long it's going to last for, tell me in a review or send me a PM if you intend to give it a try then just send your designs to the email address on my profile.**

**Cheers**

**Deathdingle**

OoOOOooO

Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand to reappear in the arena, Naruto decided to just jump in

'Not being flashy this match?' asked Gaara, Naruto just smiled then Hayate stepped in between them, he could see they were ready so he decided to just get the match underway

'The final match between Gaara no Sabaku of Konoha and Naruto Namikaze of Konoha, begin' he said dropping his hand and quickly getting out the way.

Gaara just looked at Naruto and then got quite a shock

'Boo' said Naruto from Gaaras right shoulder "No way, he's so fast he left an after image" thought Gaara as he turned round to see Naruto standing behind him

In the stands Lee was watching the match with a mixture of bewilderment and amazement

"I'm fast, the sand struggled to keep up with me but he's moving so fast the sand can't even react to it, he's behind him and the sand hasn't even gotten off the floor" thought Lee, he couldn't even see Naruto move and he doubted that, Guy, Kakashi or even Sasuke would be able to either

'Come on Gaara, it's no fun if you don't try' said Naruto smiling, Gaara smirked

'You noticed, well done' he said

'How could I not, I've seen you tap into Shukakus chakra in training so I know you can do it' replied Naruto still smiling

'Alright then, let's get this show on the road' said Gaara as he started tapping into Shukakus chakra, then the sound of kunai clashing again and again where heard, only after the 3 clash had been heard did both boys disappear, the crowd was stunned, it wasn't just Naruto that left an after image this time, it was Gaara as well, they both moved so fast that even Sasuke couldn't get more than a glimpse of them when they stopped for a second to clash.

'Sasuke can you see them?' asked Kakashi

'Only for a split second when they actually hit and from what I can tell this is just a warm up to them' replied Sasuke shocking everyone except Hinata

'Then why did he finish you and Temari so quickly and not do it to now?' asked Sakura, it didn't make sense that the fight that he'd seemed to be waiting for, for who knows how long he'd finish in a second and then draw out the last one

'The answer to that is simple, he needed to prove to me that I was weak because I chased after strength to get Itachi for vengeance, instead of finding someone to protect and fighting to keep them safe, I know that now. There's also the fact that the only person in the entire stadium that has the chakra reserves to allow Naruto to truly test what he can do is Gaara, as well as he's likely to be the only one who can survive it' explained Sasuke again shocking everyone, they looked at the arena in awe, if what Sasuke said was true Naruto and Gaara where hardly trying and already they made every other ninja in the village look weak, all they lacked was experience, then something struck Kakashi

"If he's gained all the Kyuubis knowledge he's got more experience than every person in this stadium combined and then some" the thought was incredible he was a mere genin just trying to become a chunin and he could make the Hokages seem like nothing as Kakashi watched the 2 boys suddenly appeared in the arena as though they hadn't moved

'Well now that was a nice warm up wasn't it?' asked Naruto, at this half of the crowds eyes shot wide and white and their jaws almost hit the floor

'Yes, shall we get serious and take it up a notch now?' replied Gaara causing the rest of the crowd bar those that already knew to have almost the same reaction except now all of the crowds jaws had created holes in the floor, both boys grinned and then vanished again

'Sasuke can you still see them?' asked Sakura, Sasuke looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, the clash of kunai was almost constant this time

'No, they're moving far to fast for even my Mangekyo Sharingan to keep up with' he replied

"How did you get so strong Naruto?" thought Sakura, Hinata giggled

'What's funny Hinata?' asked Sakura, Hinata looked at her with a smile on her face

'I was a little worried about what the Hyuga elders and other clan members might try and do to Naruto when they found out we where together but now, I really don't think that's going to be a problem, they all know that Gaara and his siblings smashed the record for making it through the forest of death for the second test and did so with out even getting scratched, they also know the 2 techniques he used against Sasuke and to now watch him fighting at this level, even that warm up that he didn't even seem as if he'd done anything for, I really doubt they'd dare challenge him for fear of him destroying them' she said and then giggled again, Sakura smiled, she knew she didn't know everything about what Naruto had gone through as a child but she knew some of it and she seriously doubted any of the villagers would give him any trouble after this performance.

After nearly 5 minutes with nothing but the sound of clashing kunai every second Naruto and Gaara suddenly reappeared each flying through hand signs, then they stopped and cried out the names of their jutsu at the same time

'Ake kirei jutsu' said Naruto, Starting at his feet and moving out across the floor and then up wards into to a wall of pure white heading for Gaara came something that no-one in the crowd had a clue what it was, to the Hyugas , using the Byakugan it looked to be a shear mass of solidified chakra

'Kakene Sabaku hisan jutsu' said Gaara, from Gaaras side of the field came a huge amount of sand focused into 2 attacks, one on each side of him.

The 2 immense attacks collided in the middle and blew up it took several minutes for the smoke to clear but when it finally did they could see Naruto standing over the prone form of Gaara holding one wakazashi to his throat and the other to his crotch, Naruto looked over to Hayate to signal for him to call the match, Hayate looked down at Gaara, Gaara just nodded calmly and Hayate raised his hand

'Winner Naruto Namikaze' he said, a few small pockets of the crowd where cheering, Minato was clapping but the crowd on mass was silent, they couldn't believe the boy was so powerful.

Naruto sheathed his weapons and reached out his hand to help Gaara up, Gaara looked exhausted, he was struggling to stand, Naruto on the other hand still looked like he hadn't done anything, it was very apparent to all present that Naruto had hardly touched his chakra reserves and was in fact far more powerful than he'd appeared to be even now Naruto then created 2 shadow clones, one took Gaara to his siblings and stayed talking with them, the second went and told Haishi that he would be over later to speak with himself and the Hyuga elders, Haishi replied that he should come over in around 2 hours, the clone then dispersed, the real Naruto then appeared next to Hinata, who threw her arms around him and kissed him full on the lips

'Well done Naruto' she said happily, Naruto felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Sasuke

'Tell me Naruto, how much of your chakra reserves have these matches taken out of you?' he asked, Naruto smiled with his trade mark grin

'I say around a thousandth' he replied, Sasuke could tell he wasn't lying because of the Sharingan but Kiba, Ino and Sakura turned to Kakashi Asuma and Guy

'Is that true?' asked Kiba

'I couldn't really tell you' said Kakashi 'I can't say I've noticed his chakra drop at all since the first match' he said, causing all three of the genins mouths, as well as the surrounding spectators, jaws to plummet through the floor, they turned to look at Naruto, who was still smiling, and all three had basically the same thought going through their head "Then exactly HOW bloody strong is he?" but none where quite sure how to ask.

Minato then appeared in the arena

'Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame and Kankuro no Sabaku please come to the arena now' he said, Shino and Kankuro just jumped in the arena but Sasuke was still weak

'I'll help you' said Naruto supporting his weight

'Thanks Naruto' said Sasuke, it was one thing to appear weak but it was another altogether to run the risk of serious injury when you could hardly stand, Naruto and Sasuke then vanished and reappeared in the arena

'Now then as 2 of you were unable to battle and the other was unable to display their skills and apparently that was what the other Kages and the Daimyos particularly wanted to see it has been agreed that the 3 of you will take part in exhibition matches as a second chance, your opponents will be selected at random now from the leaf genin that didn't initially make it to this part of the exam but did make it to the tower' said Minato as the board behind him started running through names

After 20 seconds the first 2 names came up

'Sasuke Uchiha will face Kiba Inuzuka' said Minato, then the board started flashing through names again before stopping again

'Shino Aburame will face Choji Akimichi' said Minato and once again the board started flashing through names again

'Finally Kankuro no Sabaku will face Hinata Hyuga, as Sasuke is currently incapable of fighting the matches will be held here tomorrow' he said, Naruto was ecstatic, he knew that this meant Hinata now had a chance of promotion.

Around an hour later Naruto was sitting with Hinata on top of his fathers head "Man that's going to take some getting used to" he thought, talking with her, he suddenly felt a little dizzy as he got a rush of knowledge from the clone he'd left with Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, it had talked with them for a good three quarters of an hour and then taken Kankuro and Gaara to Ichirakus and then left to take Temari to meet Sasuke, after it had introduced them to each other and then talked with them a while it had dispersed and Naruto suddenly fell back laughing hard much to Hinatas surprise, at first she thought it was something she had said

'What's so funny Naruto' she said sounding a little upset, Naruto quickly quieted down when he realised she thought he was laughing at her

'Can you imagine Sasuke stuttering and blushing the way you used to around me?' he asked, at first she thought that he hadn't been paying attention to her

'Where you even listening to me?' she asked getting a little angry and quite upset, Naruto realised he needed to explain

'Of course Shinju, but the clone I left talking with Gaara, Temari and Kankuro took Gaara and Kankuro to Ichirakus and then took Temari to meet Sasuke, when it introduced them Sasuke and Temari both blushed and it then spent 15 minutes talking to them as Temari seemed to become quite shy and every time Sasuke tried to talk to her he stuttered and fidgeted, Temari was only giving more than one word answers when she had to and was practically whispering the whole time' said Naruto, Hinata then got the mental image of the state the 2 where in and then fell back laughing as Naruto went into a second fit of laughter recalling the actual event.

After around 40 minutes and around a dozen wisecracks about the incident from Naruto, each sending both himself and Hinata back into another fit of laughter they finally calmed down enough for Naruto to realise that he had arranged to see Haishi and the Hyuga elders in 20 minutes time, he told Hinata and she was confused

'Why do you want to speak to my father and the elders?' she asked

'That is a surprise I'm sure you'll love' replied Naruto standing up and reaching out his hand to help the Hyuga heiress up, they then jumped down from the monument and headed in the direction of the Hyuga compound across the rooftops holding hands on the way.

They arrived 15 minutes later and walked through the gates, the guards had very obviously either seen the fights or heard about them and the fear in their eyes was evident.

They walked up to the room that they knew Haishi would be in and knocked on the door

'Enter' came Haishis voice from the other side, Naruto slid the door to the right and let Hinata through before walking in himself and sliding the door shut behind himself. Around the sides of the room sat the Hyuga elders and at the end sat Haishi, Naruto and Hinata walked in front of Haishi and knelt down before Haishi spoke

'Ah Naruto, now what was it you wanted to discuss with myself and the elders?' asked Haishi, already having a good idea of both what Naruto intended to ask and why he would wish the elders assembled to ask it

'I'm here to ask for your daughters hand in marriage' replied Naruto calmly, immediately one of the elders spoke out

'You have no right to ask for her hand in marriage and we would not consent to such a weakling being married to the heiress' he said, his voice dripping with malice, Hinata was about to scream at him that Naruto was more powerful than any of them ever where but Naruto put his hand on her shoulder and when she looked at him he shook his head before he spoke to them

'I had expected you would say that and I also realised that even if I had made arrangements with Haishi without informing you, you would have simply arranged her marriage to the person you wanted and pushed it through before I was able to arrange to marry her so I thought about it and made a decision, I will fight all of you at the same time, if I win Hinata is free to marry me or anyone else she chooses to, if I lose then you can have her marry whoever you choose' said Naruto, the elders smiled evilly, they thought without the Byakugan he would quickly lose fighting all of them at once

'Very well we accept your terms' said one, at that point Minato and Sarutobi stepped out from behind Haishi, Naruto motioned for Hinata to go and stand beside their fathers and she did, she was smiling a little, she knew Naruto would lay waste to them without even trying, Naruto himself stood up, moved to the centre of the room and closed his eyes activating his Fuengan after he had done so, the elders where surprised to see their Hokage and former Hokage there

'Lord Hokage, Lord Sarutobi, why are you here?' asked one of them, it was Sarutobi who replied

'We are here to ensure that you will hold true to the agreement you have made with Naruto, should you fail to you will find yourselves behind bars awaiting execution for treason, as I could have done on many occasions during my term of office, you will not get out of this if you lose' he said, careful to keep his emotions in check and his face expressionless despite knowing that the Hyuga elders where drastically over confident and hopelessly out matched against the boy

'Very well, we won't be losing anyway' said another as they stood up and encircled the boy, then 2 of them charged at him, one from directly in front and the other directly behind, their feet moving in perfect unison so that only one set of footfalls could be heard when they got within striking distance of Naruto they both suddenly flew back in to the walls behind them, Naruto however didn't look to have moved, again and again from every direction the 20 Hyuga elders attacked Naruto, who never seemed to move, most where unconscious with the first strike, of the 10 that were still conscious 5 hadn't attacked yet, 1 had a broken leg, 2 had a broken arm and the last 2 had broken ribs.

The 2 with broken arms and the 2 with broken ribs got up and moved to encircle Naruto a second time only to fall down when they got to the circle, red welts appearing on the sides of their faces, Naruto still didn't look to have moved, he hadn't even opened his eyes, one of the remaining 5 was getting pissed off thinking Naruto was pulling some sort of trick on them

'How have you taken them all down when you haven't even moved, you've cheated somehow' he said his voice laced with so much malice that most genin and many chunin would have been scared, Naruto however just opened his eyes and watched as the old man fell over in sheer shock

'We never stood a chance, he's using the Fuengan' he said, his voice now laced with fear instead of malice, the 2 standing behind him thought it was some sort of genjutsu he'd cast on the other member, as they went to strike him he just moved fluidly round the attacks and swiftly closed most of the chakra points in their arms and several of those in the top of their legs causing them to fall

'How did you do that, only the Byakugan can see the chakra points' said one of them hitting the chakra points in his legs to reopen them

'The Byakugan isn't the only bloodline that can see the chakra points and I use the other one, the Fuengan' said Naruto nonchalantly before looking the elder in the eyes, the next moment the elder fell down unconscious

'He won't be getting up again' said Naruto like it was nothing

'What did you do to him?' demanded the other elder as he opened the chakra points in his arm

'I just gave him a taste of what it was like for me growing up, nothing to serious, he just felt what it was like for me in one of the milder attacks' explained Naruto as though it was nothing, the 2 still in front of him and the 2 standing behind him all charged at him from opposite directions at the same time, Naruto just stood there, as soon as they were about to hit him he vanished and they instead hit each other

'What the...? How did he trick the Byakugan with an illusion?' asked one of the 3 still standing, the fourth having been rendered unconscious by the punch

'I didn't, I couldn't use that basic technique to save my life, not that I've ever needed too' said Naruto like the whole world should know it

'Then how did you become a genin then?' asked one of them, thinking they might have some way to prevent him becoming a chunin at least and maybe get him sent back to the academy

'By learning this' said Naruto putting his hands in the familiar cross sign and creating 3 shadow clones, the elders where in shock, they couldn't perform that technique

'You where in the exams weren't you?' asked one, apparently having not attended himself and looking at the chakra in the three clones and Naruto himself

'Yep, I won the final match why?' asked Naruto smiling, he could guess what was going on in the elders head

'Then how can you have enough chakra to make even one clone after that and then all this?' he said, his entire body shaking and his face going white

'Ha, I've hardly used any chakra, I could redo this entire day 6 times before I'd even start to notice my chakra levels dropping' said Naruto smirking at the reaction of the other 2 elders as they barely avoided fainting as the third did so

'You win, we can't even get close to hitting you and trying to dodge 3 shadow clones as well, we would have no chance' said one of the 2, the other hung his head knowing what he'd said was true

'Excellent, so then Hinata, Naruto I'm happy to say that you are now engaged' said Haishi, Naruto dispersed his clones, stepped forward and bowed to Haishi

'Thank you Haishi' he said and when he raised himself back up one of the Hyuga elders tried to hit him in the Byakugans blind spot but Naruto just vanished to reappear behind him holding a kunai to his throat

'I've good enough reason to slit your throat right now in self defence, after all it's likely that attack would have at least paralysed me or could even have killed me, but fortunately for both of us the Fuengan lacks the blind spot that the weaker Byakugan possess' he said smirking at the elder who had become paralysed in fear before removing the kunai and returning it to it's holster on his leg. Despite knowing that Naruto was going to be fine in the fight after seeing him nearly hurt so badly and then the shock of actually being engaged to Naruto finally hitting her, Hinata did something she hadn't for over a week, she fainted.

Around an hour later Hinata came round, initially she was a little sacred, she didn't immediately recognise her surroundings but after a moment she realised she was in Narutos room lying on his bed, as she came round she noticed a faint smell of cooking as she looked towards the door she noticed it was closed, she got up, walked over and opened it, her nose was immediately assaulted with the smell of duck and plum, after Naruto had tasted it when they went after Tsunade he'd taken something of a liking to it, knowing that it was better than just eating ramen, so he'd learned to cook it, as she walked the short distance she heard people talking in the front room which adjoined directly to Narutos kitchen she walked in to see Naruto standing in the kitchen sorting out a pan on the stove and Sasuke and Temari sitting on his sofa talking

'Hey Shinju, sleep well?' asked Naruto without turning around, Temari and Sasuke then turned to look at her in the doorway, she was wearing a red t-shirt with the black skull and kunai crossed like the bones on a jolly roger on it and a pair of baggy navy blue jeans, it wasn't that she still tried to hide her figure, in fact she had gained the confidence to go out wearing a tight t-shirt and jean shorts that cut off half way down her thigh even in Konoha, she just preferred the style and felt comfortable in them, Naruto had actually bought her 6 of each so that she could wear them as much as she wanted, she even kept a set at his flat so she could get changed after training with out having to carry them with her all day.

Naruto had decided that whilst it would be nice to move into the Namikaze mansion with his farther, it would have to wait till after the chunin exams at the earliest and now that he and Hinata where engaged, he had contemplated asking if she would like to move in with him. Sasuke had also asked if he could move in whilst Hinata had been unconscious as he no longer wished to live alone and he was now willing to admit that Naruto was like a brother to him, in fact he had been heard on a couple of occasions no less than an hour and a half after the exams had finished saying that Naruto was more like a brother to him than Itachi ever had been.

The news had slowly been getting round Konoha that even if Naruto would not lift a hand against a civilian aggressor there where plenty of other people who would do it if they found out and many of them had eyes and ears in the gossip channels of Konoha (Namely Sasuke after talking to Sakura and Ino, both of whom had been willing to give him the information knowing that Naruto was their friend and if some one had hurt him they where going to help Sasuke get them back, there was also a hint that for some, who had repeatedly called him a demon, he would be talking to Naruto and taking a page out of the 'Prank master from hells' books to get them back) some people had apparently already had to have one to one 'Healing' sessions with Tsunade after being brought in after being attacked 'for hurting the Hokages son' who had apparently come out saying that their condition was such they would have to stay in at least a few days and needed at least one more 'healing' session and in one particular case 2.

'Hey Hinata, come and have a seat and chat' said Temari warmly with a smile on her face

'Yeah come on, we where just talking to Naruto about the best way to get revenge on a couple of people who don't call him anything other than a demon' said Sasuke, Hinata was shocked to hear this as she walked over and took a seat on the other sofa in the room

'You aren't going to hurt them are you?' she asked worried, whilst she didn't like people referring to Naruto like that but she also didn't think they deserved to be hurt for it

'Shinju do you remember the other name that people had for me during our academy days?' asked Naruto with a mischievous tone to his voice, Hinata thought back but really could only remember them calling him either demon or monster

'Do you mean monster?' she asked hoping she was wrong, Naruto laughed lightly at her comment

'I suppose that's loosely right, they didn't call me that because of Akahito though, do you remember a certain incident that had the whole village in an uproar and no-one was sure who had done it for about 3 hours?' he asked, he was pretty sure she would know what he was on about

'Do you mean when you painted the Hokage monument?' she asked, Temaris jaw dropped before she started laughing hard

'You managed to paint the Hokage monument and get away with it for 3 hours?' she asked finally after stopping laughing, Naruto turned around and smiled, showing Hinata that his Fuengan was active, which was how he knew she was at the door

'Yep, and after that those that didn't hate me came up with a slightly different name for me and then a nickname for it, at first I had thought they had started to see me the same as the rest of the village then the old man explained that they where using it as a quick form of my other nickname which I was quite proud of and still am for that matter, they called me the prank master from hell, Sasuke was thinking about pulling out some tricks from that bag since the village has gotten off without any for quite a while' explained Naruto, something else struck Hinatas mind though

'What did your dad say when he found out you'd painted the Hokage monument?' she asked, now happy that they weren't going to hurt anyone

'Damn I wish I'd thought of that, he was also a little upset and very proud that I'd stolen his title of the prank master from hell' said Naruto smiling, he then turned back to the cooking and started putting the food on plates, then there was a knock on the door and he moved to go and answer it

'I'll get, you finish sorting out the food' said Hinata walking to the door, she opened it to find her father and the Fourth Hokage standing there

'Lord Hokage, Father, please come in, but why are you here?' she asked a little concerned that they would come here

'Please Hinata call me Minato, we're practically family now and don't worry we've just come to inform you of a good thing' said Minato stepping in followed by Haishi taking their shoes off and moving into the front room with Hinata following after closing the front door

'Lord Hokage' said Sasuke and Temari at the same time and quickly standing up and bowing to him

'Please you 2, I know Naruto sees you as a brother Sasuke which makes you almost family and Temari you are the daughter of the Fourth Kazekage, you need not extend such formalities to me' said Minato

'Hey Dad, Haishi, what brings you here?' asked Naruto look at them and smiling

'Just thought you and Hinata would be interested to know that the moment you 2 got together you where engaged and Hinata was forever safe from the Hyuga elders arranging a marriage for her, even if they had arranged it and carried it through without Haishi knowing it would instantly be annulled when he found out because Haishi and myself had always intended for you and Hinata to get together at one point or another, whether by your own choice or at our request because we put together our own arranged marriage for the 2 of you before you were born' said Minato, then giving them a moment to sit down so that they could take the information in before he continued

'Naruto your mother found an old law passed by the first that allowed the head of the clan to create an arranged marriage without the consent of the clan elders and all of the terms and conditions written in the contract at its creation would be the primary contract and could not be overridden by the clan elders, in our case we decided that we would do 2 things, since neither the Namikaze or the Uzumaki clans had elders we didn't have to worry but the Hyuga clan elders where a problem, so we wrote it into the contract that you 2 could only come together of your own free will' Minato paused for a moment, it was a lot of information and he knew there was more to come, after a few moments he continued

'We also gave careful consideration to the fact that unless we put something into the contract if the Hyuga elders ever found out you 2 had gotten together they might immediately try to marry Hinata in secret so that nothing could come of it, so we wrote it into the contract that as long as the 2 of you got together at some point, whether you stayed together or not, Hinata could never be put into any other arranged marriage, thus keeping her safe from the moment you 2 got together' explained Minato.

After he finished the room sat in silence for a moment before there was a thud as Naruto stopped beside Hinata and stopped her from falling of the chair having fainted with a happy smile on her face, as the information had formed together in her mind it had made it seem to her as though she and Naruto had been destined to be together.

'That was a far better reaction than I had expected, I thought she wouldn't get all of it and would end up ranting about being put in an arranged marriage' Said Haishi

'I can't exactly say I'm happy about being party to an arranged marriage but I can't really argue about it because of the reasons and that at least it was written in that we had a choice' replied Naruto, no one was particularly surprised to hear this knowing that he hated any attempts to control him.

The next morning Naruto was still contemplating if he should ask Hinata to move in or if he should let Sasuke, he had also given consideration to asking Hinata to move in and stay in his room whilst Sasuke moved into the other bedroom, but was a little worried that that could be awkward as if the relationship moved in a certain direction, it could get a little noise during and thus rather uncomfortable after the event, he knew that this was going to need a lot of consideration, he decided that whilst he could speak to his Dad about it, he would be better off talking to Jiriaya as at least Jiriaya was likely to have a trick or 2 to minimise any foreseeable problems.

His musings took up the entire walk from his flat to the Hyuga compound, when he arrived the guards gave their congratulations and seemed very friendly towards him, he walked into the main room where he had agreed to meet Haishi and found him sitting in the centre of the room

'I guess the whole clan now knows that me and Hinata are engaged' he said, it was a statement rather than a question

'Yes, I've also been able to remove all of their caged bird seals, thanks to you, after I spoke with you last night I came back to find that despite the warnings the council had tried to arrange a very hasty marriage, it would seem they had already begun arranging it when they first discovered that you and Hinata where together, but they had forgotten that the law states that if they try and go against an arranged marriage contract formed under the firsts law they can automatically be branded traitors to Konoha because they potentially weaken the clan, you see an unhappy marriage will lead to few to no children so it puts the clan at risk, however a happy one will increase the chances of children 10 fold because the couple is more likely to want them' explained Haishi, then he had an after thought of something else he thought Naruto should know

'You may also be interested to know that since you are the last wielder of the Fuengan the council was very interested in ensuring you had at least one heir and after it was explained that unless it would be with Hinata the chances of you being willing to find a partner and have an heir with where slim to none existent and this put your bloodline at risk, particularly as your father made it clear that he would not arrange a marriage for you and the only way you would be getting married was if both you and the girl wanted it, there are plenty of girls that would like the chance with you but you only have eyes for Hinata, so a law passed by the second designed to prevent clan elders from causing a second bloodline to go extinct because they didn't want a member of their clan marrying that particular person was called upon which carries a death sentence, both your father and myself thought that it was too light for the Hyuga elders so with the backing of the council they have been put behind bars for the rest of their lives' he explained

'So how has that let you remove the seals?' asked Naruto, he still hadn't explained that part and it was confusing him

'There is a Hyuga clan law that cannot be revoked created by the head during the time of the first, where if any member of the clan elders council is convicted of a crime that can be sentenced by the council of Konoha they immediately lose their position amongst the elders council and the clan head, in this case myself, selects their replacement to ensure that they don't not choose some one who will do what they want, and since the entire council was convicted at the same time I was able to choose an entirely new council that would better suit today's Konoha and would have equal interest in the clans and the individuals well being, meaning that Neji has also been able to get with Tenten finally, and I understand that Hanabi has taken something of an interest in a young friend of yours by the name of Konohamaru, and much to my surprise one of his friends Meogi' at this piece of information Naruto almost fell over, knowing full well Meogi was the only female member of the Konohamaru corps, Haishi smiled when he saw Narutos reaction

'So you're telling me that..' said Naruto not entirely wanting to finish the sentence

'Yes it would seem that young Hanabi has no particular preference to the gender of her partner, or in this case it may be partners, which I have to say I'm fine with, her mother was that way inclined as well and whilst we where unable to do anything about it we hoped that when Hinata took my place she would be able to, the first three acts a new clan head makes cannot be blocked by the council and cannot be overturned by a council vote, only a new head can overturn them as one of their first 3 acts, we weren't sure if either girl would follow after their mother. I may be able to sort it out ahead though, when more than half the council is changed at one time they can overturn one pervious act, but only if the decision is unanimous, if even one votes against they can't don't but I don't see that being a problem, I know Hinata will quite happily disband the seal tradition, or more precisely you will, the moment you take my place' said Haishi smiling happily

'I certainly will, I may not know what it's like to feel the effects of the caged bird seal but I do know what the effects that having a seal and being considered a lesser being because of it feel like. Thank you for giving me that information Haishi' said Naruto bowing low to show his gratitude, both Naruto and Haishi knew that it wasn't necessary as a formality anymore so when it was used both knew it was as a sign of gratitude or respect rather than a mandatory bow of respect, it was now always earned and never given freely.

The pair small talked for another 5 minutes about the matches and who they expected to win, at least in regards to Sasuke and Shinos matches, they did speak about Hinatas match feeling very confident that Hinata would not have the same problem she had in the preliminaries, then Hinata walked into the room

'Good morning Shinju, looking forward to your match?' asked Naruto, Haishi smiled at the pet name Naruto had given Hinata

'Yes I am, and I intend to win' said Hinata returning the embrace Naruto gave her. All three then left for the stadium.

And that's the end of another chapter

Noticed a slight problem with the jutsu names, I haven't put the translations in anywhere so I'm going to start adding the ones I've used in the chapter at the end

Ake kirei – roughly 'end clean'

Kakene Sabaku hisan – Overcharge desert disaster, like his desert funeral but much more powerful

Next Chapter: Exhibition matches, Promotions and Demands not met: Chapter 11 – Promotions


	11. Promotions

Power – Redefined

Chapter 11 – Promotions

OoOOOooO

They arrived at the stadium and went into the main stands, Kankuro, Shino, Sasuke, Kiba and Choji where in the participants stands but Hinata decided to sit with Naruto and her father until her match was called, she knew that it wasn't going to be an easy match but with the tricks she'd added to her arsenal since the preliminaries she felt quite confident that she had a good chance against Kankuro. Hayate then appeared in the centre of the arena and the boards lit up showing Sasuke and Kiba for the first match

'Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Inuzuka please come to the arena for your match' said Hayate and both boys jumped into the arena landing opposite each other, Hayate stepped in between and raised his hand

'Sasuke Uchiha vs. Kiba Inuzuka, begin' he said as he dropped his hand, Akamaru quickly jumped from on top of Kibas head and Kiba bent down and stood on all fours, Akamaru then landed on his back

'All fours jutsu, human beast clone jutsu' said Kiba as first his nails grew longer and then Akamaru transformed into a clone of him

'How predictable' yawned Sasuke, as he finished yawning he quickly shaped his hand and shot a series of small fire balls at the one that moved off to the left as he fired the last shot he activated his sharingan "surprise, surprise Akamaru has less chakra so I know exactly which one to go for" thought Sasuke as the 2 moved to the side of him "No way, I didn't think they'd make it this easy" he thought knowing what they planned to do next

'Gatsuuga' shouted the one on Sasukes left side, exactly as he had expected Kiba had stayed on the bottom despite the fact he could have changed places with Akamaru whilst the smoke from the transformation hid them, not that it mattered to him.

As the 2 spinning blurs got closer and closer Sasuke just stood there as though he wasn't going to do anything then just at the last moment when it looked as though it was going hit he used the body flicker to move to the other side of the arena and watched smiling as Kiba and Akamaru slammed head first into each other, knocking them both out cold, he couldn't help and when he saw them hit each other and Sasuke and around half the crowd burst out laughing at just how silly it had been to do it.

'Sadly it would seem that you just can't seem to get a decent match wouldn't it Sasuke, still we have some idea of your skill level from this and we will consider you from this' said Minato from his seat

'Shino Aburame and Choji Akimichi please come to the arena for your match' said Hayate as Sasuke jumped on to the stadium roof to watch, Naruto created a clone which followed him up to talk about the next match with him. Shino and Choji just walked down the stairs, Choji eating the apparently bottomless bag of crisps he was always carrying, they got to the centre of the arena and stood opposite each other and Hayate stood in between them

'Shino Aburame vs. Choji Akimichi, begin' said Hayate dropping his hand and jumping back out of the way

Choji began using his meat tank jutsu but Shino dropped a smoke bomb, Choji rolled forward and straight through the centre of the smoke and out the other side clearing a lot of it in the process, as he turned and came back around for another attack the smoke cleared enough to see Shino standing facing the direction he was coming from. Choji just rolled straight into him and suddenly he dispersed into hundreds of bugs and reappeared on the other side of the arena. Choji again rolled at him and this time Shino formed his bug wall with a slight modification, instead of it being completely vertical to stop the attack it was slightly angled and as Choji hit it he started to rise up it, the bug wall then flowed round in the direct that Choji was travelling in and formed into a loop that kept Choji continually moving around in the same spot.

Shino then released more bugs and completely encased him in a sphere of bugs, he then started jumping around as though avoiding attacks so that Choji didn't realise that he was just spinning in the same place. Shino continued this game of false cat and mouse for around five minutes before the bugs dispersed to reveal a rather tired looking Choji, he was breathing hard and was covered in sweat

'Well Shino it would seem you managed to trick me and I'm not entirely sure how but you seem to have drained me of a lot more chakra when you did it' said Choji

'That was simple, that main flaw in the meet tank jutsus design is that you can't see where you are going, also my bugs live by feeding off chakra so in your first and second attacks I planted a number on you, then it was a simple matter of having you drain yourself whilst the bogs gorged themselves on your chakra' replied Shino

'Fair enough, well planned and congratulations, you win' said Choji, walking forward and reaching out his hand, Shino accepted and they shook hands

'Winner Shino Aburame, the final match is between Kankuro no Sabaku and Hinata Hyuga, will the participants please come to the arena' said Hayate

'You can do it Hinata, I know you can and I'm sure you'll become a chunin' said Naruto enthusiastically giving her a kiss on the cheek

'Thanks Naruto' she said returning the kiss and jumping into the arena followed a moment later by Kankuro from the other side.

Hayate looked between the 2 genin and then raised his hand, he quickly lowered it

'Begin' was all he said as his hand dropped and he jumped out of the way.

Kankuro quickly unwrapped his puppet and attached the chakra strings, Hinata activated her Junkagan and looked carefully at the strings "My best initial chance is going to be to counter the chakra used to create the strings and then hit him hard and fast with 64 palms, failing that I think my best bet would be to use a shadow clone and try and hold him in place to hit him with a Rasengan, wait if I combine the 2, I'll need to create at least 2 shadow clones then if I use them to attack the puppet he should ignore me thinking I'm an illusion giving me the time I need to hit him with Rasengan, I need to be careful not to kill him with it though" thought Hinata, she had hoped she had planned well enough, then she remembered what Jiriaya had told her

_**Quick flash**_

'_remember to be ready to deviate from the plan and improvise if things start to go differently, make your decisions and stick with them there is no time for second guessing, trust your instincts and hopefully you won't go far wrong'_

_**Flash done**_

Be ready to change her plan and adapt if things don't work, make her decisions and stick with them and trust her instincts, she reached into the utility pouch on the right side of her belt, she had gathered many of the same items as Naruto in regards to extra equipment at the ninja store and after some careful thought and a discussion with Naruto they had decided that it was a good set up and they would both use it, Hinata had had to pick up an extra kunai holster and another utility pouch to finish it off but that wasn't too much of a problem, she currently wore her plain black uniform with Owari safely tucked away in a scroll in her other utility pouch, during the week or so leading up Naruto had made sure that Jiriaya taught them both everything he could about sealing, starting with sealing into scrolls, Naruto used them to hold various pieces of extra kit whilst Hinata favoured having as much kit as she could to hand and keeping Owari and a few other items sealed in scrolls for easy travelling.

She pulled out three smoke bombs and dropped one on her right side, one in front and one on her left side, with her cover up she created 2 shadow clones, then she herself quickly moved out of the cover, her Junkagan allowing her to see where the puppet was, immediately Kankuro sent the puppet after her then her first clone came out of the smoke followed a moment later by the second clone, Kankuro instantly thought as most ninja wound when facing a genin, the first and second are decoys.

He quickly sent the puppet after the second clone as the first closed in and cut one of the chakra strings, Hinata was already nearly behind him and was starting to close the distance between herself and him, as Kankuro whirled the puppet round to target the first clone closed the gap and cut three more of the chakra strings, this caused the puppet to become difficult to control and as Kankuro struggled to attach new strings more where being cut, he had completely forgotten that he had another target to deal with, Hinata quickly seized her opportunity and attacked

'Eight Trigrams: 64 palms' she said as she began her onslaught counting up the strikes '2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64' whilst her 2 clones made short work of the remaining chakra strings as Hinata finished her attack and jumped back she dispelled one of her clones and the other charged up a relatively weak, but none the less powerful Rasengan and used it on the puppet severely damaging it and rendering it useless, Kankuro collapsed to his knees, he hardly had the energy to move, he knew he hadn't used that much chakra but it felt like he had almost nothing left

'You win, good job' he said

'Winner, Hinata Hyuga' said Hayate, Hinata then walked over to Kankuro and knelt in front of him

'Hold still' she said and then quickly jabbed him in a number of locations

'Ouch, what the hell did you just do to me?' he said rather harshly thinking she had attacked him despite having won the match already

'You should find you've got more energy now, in a few moments you should be able to move again, I just reopened the chakra points I closed when I attacked you, unfortunately it hurts as much to open them as it does to close them' said Hinata walking back to the stands, she then jumped up and landed beside Naruto

'Great work Shinju' said Naruto before giving her a kiss on the lips, she smiled, he was always there, boosting her confidence before she needed it to be and congratulating her after she'd done it and she felt sure that even if she'd lost he would only be pointing out the good points or a weakness that could be worked on and if she needed to work on something he would be right there the whole time helping and encouraging her

'Thank you Naruto' she said after they broke the kiss, she then sat down, leant her head on his shoulder and held is right hand whilst he wrapped his left arm around her.

Minato appeared in the arena and held up his hands to silence the crowds that had started to talk quite loudly amongst themselves, when the crowd was silent he spoke

'Now then this has certainly been one of the best chunin exams I have ever witnessed, we have seen a lot of promise in many of the candidates that have competed over today and yesterday and over the next week myself and the other Kage and Daimyos will discuss the participants and decide who we feel is suitable for promotion to chunin' he said and then he disappeared back to his seat and along with the Tsuchikage, Raikage and the Fire, Earth and Lightening Daimyos, despite Konohas rocky standing with the Earth and Lightening countries an agreement was signed by the 5 nations that should any attack occur by one of them during the chunin exams they would be considered hostile to all as it was agreed that if they would attack one they may attack any and thus they would become the target and wiped out, the land of wind and Suna where exempt from this when it was revealed that Orochimaru had instigated the attack, the claim was back by The Third Hokage, the Kage of the victim country and thus the agreement was not enforced in that instance he departed for his office to discuss the final matches.

Afternoon 6 days later

The discussions had been finished and the agreements made as to which of the genin that had participated would be of chunin status. The other officials had left that morning and now, Sasuke and Temari stood hand in hand and next to them from left to right stood Shino, Choji, Kankuro, Gaara, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji and then Hinata stood with her head against Narutos shoulder her left arm around his lower back and his right around her shoulders.

'Now then the decision has been made and the names I read out are those who have been promoted to chunin' said Minato, he waited for them all to nod in acknowledgement before continuing

'Shikamaru, Neji, Shino, Sasuke, Temari and Hinata, you have all been promoted to chunin, congratulations' said Minato

'But Minato you haven't mentioned Naruto or Gaara' said Hinata worriedly, Naruto and Gaara however didn't seem at all worried

'You're right Hinata, that's because we came to the agreement that they where just too skilled to be considered as chunin, in fact it was very hard to classify Naruto because he is so strong, Gaara, you are officially a jonin and should you choose you can begin training for ANBU immediately, Naruto however, it was decided that you could not possibly be considered for ANBU as the ANBU primarily work within the village and you would be of far more use to Konoha and the Land of Fire working outside the village so a special category has been created that you will be immediately put into and any future people that attain a skill level above Sanin or Kage, you are now a Jokyu jonin, you are out ranked only by myself and the Fire Daimyo and as such you accept orders only from us' explained Minato

'Thank you, Lord Hokage' said Gaara smiling

'Now then I have 2 missions here, Naruto one is for you, it's a simple mission but it's to a town in the land of waves where I believe you would like to visit again, you may select any three people you wish to accompany you from those assembled here except Gaara as he will lead the other mission, and from those on this list' said Minato handing Naruto the list of available ninja in the village and the mission details, Naruto carefully looked over details and then checked the list to see who would be worth taking. Minato then spoke to Gaara while Naruto looked through the list

'Gaara your mission is to Suna, your father has requested we send shinobi to accompany a group of shinobi delivering a piece offering from them, I figured that since you where from there it would be best to send you, you also may chose 3 from the list or those present' said Minato handing Gaara a copy of the mission details

'Thank you but I already know exactly who I will take, Temari, Kankuro and Sasuke, I think it would be best for them to accompany me as Temari and Kankuro are also from Suna and I believe Sasuke would like to see where we grew up, I cannot say I am loyal to Konoha for that would not be true, just as I told your predecessor, I am loyal to Naruto and therefore which ever country holds his loyalty also holds mine' said Gaara, he looked over to Naruto and smiled, Naruto looked up from the papers to smile back

'I'll take Hinata, Tenten and Lee if you don't mind Dad, I think that would balance the team best' said Naruto, Minato smiled at both boys, they really where worth of the status given to them, Gaara had chosen the 2 who where as at home in the desert as himself and added Sasuke to balance out their team, Sasuke being specialised in Mid to short range attacks and better suited to solid ground and rocky terrain where Gaara is at his weakest, and Naruto had picked Hinata not just because he loved her but also because her Junkagan allowed them a better field of vision and could see through genjutsu, Tenten a long range and weapons specialist and Lee a short range taijutsu specialist, thanks to Tsunade and Shizune with a little outside thinking from Naruto they had fully cured is injuries, he would be ready for combat tomorrow and the person who had made the request had in fact personally requested Naruto and said he would wait 3 days for him to assemble the team he needed, that was yesterday.

'Very well then, you have your teams, Gaara depart as soon as you are ready, Naruto I know Lee won't be ready till tomorrow but as soon as you can after that go, your task is to escort someone to the village, they've requested an A rank mission, you are to meet them at Ichirakus in 20 minutes, good luck' said Minato, Naruto then waved and he and Hinata simply vanished.

Gaara, Temari, Kankuro and Sasuke where already packed and ready to go having expected to get some sort of mission already although not actually expecting to end up as a team with Gaara leading.

Naruto and Hinata appeared outside Ichirakus and went did, Naruto wanted to eat and decided it would be best if they where already there when their escort arrived. 12 bowls of ramen, 10 for Naruto and 2 for Hinata, and 20 minutes later some one walked into the shop.

'Hello Naruto' said a voice that Naruto hadn't heard for a while, he looked round to see Tazuna standing beside him

'Hey Tazuna, what are you doing in Konoha?' asked Naruto, he suspected he may already know the reason but wanted to be sure

'I'm here to get you to escort me back to the Land of Water, around 4 months ago, 3 months after you defeated Gato and Zabuza another shipping merchant came and set fire to the bridge, his intentions are the same as Gatos, thanks to you this time the village hasn't lost hope, but we didn't put up a fight, the village came up with the money for me to travel out, the reason given was for business, a letter was forged asking me to come and over see the building a bridge here in Konoha 2 weeks ago, I came and asked that we have assistance on the same payment terms as our previous job, since we held up our side of the agreement, the only other requirement was that you be on the team that came to our aid' explained Tazuna

'That's what I thought, although you'll be surprised to learn I'm not really on the team going' said Naruto

'WHAT, I'm going to complain to the Hokage, you where supposed to be on the team' said Tazuna apparently quite annoyed with this information

'Relax, you don't need to speak to my Dad, I'm not on the team, I'm leading it' said Naruto, Tazuna slowly processed what he said, his face went happy then confused

'What do you mean, I said I was going to speak to the Hokage so why did you say I didn't need to speak to your Dad?' asked Tazuna, he couldn't work out what Naruto meant, Hinata giggled on hearing his dilemma

'Naruto is the son of The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, his mothers name was Kushina Uzumaki, he was given his mothers name to protect him till he was strong enough to protect himself' explained Hinata, again Tazunas face seemed to go through a mixture of emotions before he seemed content with this explanation and ordered some ramen. He sat and ate for 10 minutes while Naruto talked to Hinata

'How much will that be?' asked Tazuna

'Just put it on my tab old man' said Naruto

'I can't let you do that' said Tazuna shocked by Narutos statement

'Sure you can, I'm sure Tsunami will insist on cooking us dinner at least once' replied Naruto smiling broadly

'I can't argue with that, so tell me are your other team mates on this mission the same as before?' asked Tazuna curios to know if he was going to have to put up with the pink haired fan girl and the brooding over ambitious gimp

'Nope, this is my second in command and fiancé Hinata Hyuga' Naruto motioning to Hinata 'I also have a taijutsu specialist, he's friendly but a bit of a loud mouth named Rock Lee and a weapons specialist by the name of Tenten' said Naruto

'Unusual name for a guy Tenten' said Tazuna offhandedly

'Actually Tenten is a girl, she's the daughter of one of the greatest weapon specialists in Konohas history, her and Lee are both genin and Hinata is a chunin' said Naruto

'What are you now, last I knew you where a genin yourself?' asked Tazuna

'I'm in a class of my own, I was promoted to Jokyu jonin about half an hour ago' said Naruto nonchalantly

'That's quite something, how come you're in a class of your own?' asked Tazuna, he was wondering if it was because he was a particularly weak jonin but had got the promotion because of his father

'I'm too powerful to be otherwise classed as anything below ANBU but because the Fire Daimyo demanded that I be on missions outside the village they had to create a class for me, Jokyu jonin means advanced level jonin, I'd be willing to bet I'm at least an S-rank in the next bingo book of every other nation' explained Naruto smiling at the idea of being such a high level mark in the bingo book

'How can they tell that your too powerful? as far as I heard the chunin exams only finished last week and I know they only hold them once a year so that means they've gauged your strength at that level from only a handful of matches' asked Tazuna, it really didn't make any sense to him

'Well when some one uses 2 techniques that would leave most Kage with almost no chakra, then does battle with a jinchuuriki and after that still looks like they haven't even done anything it becomes pretty obvious that they're at a very high level and have more chakra than the entire population of most hidden villages' explained Hinata, Tazuna looked stupefied, the Naruto he remembered was brash and reckless and certainly wouldn't have had the chakra reserves to do all that, after all he managed to tire himself out climbing up a tree using his chakra

'Well it would seem you've changed a lot since the last time I saw you Naruto' said Tazuna "You don't know the half of it" thought Naruto

'Ok then, I'll meet you with my team here tomorrow lunch time, one of the members of my team is due for release from the hospital till tomorrow morning so they're going to need time to get their things together, we'll have lunch here and then depart after that' said Naruto getting up

'Alright then Naruto, Hinata, I'll see you here for lunch tomorrow' said Tazuna and then he watched as Naruto and Hinata just vanished

Naruto and Hinata went and found Tenten practising in her teams training ground, Naruto detailed the mission to her and the ranks that he and Hinata had been given, then they left her and walked to the hospital to see Lee.

Lee seemed a little more subdued now but was still very formal and very full of his 'flames of youth'. Naruto explained the mission details and the team that he was to be part of, initially he was wondering who was going to lead it and interrupted Naruto before he could say that he was, when he was told he said that if it was an A-rank shouldn't it be lead by a jonin and again Naruto explained his new rank and told him of Hinatas promotion. They left Lee in high spirits but Naruto had managed to get him to agree to not go on about the 'flames of youth' whilst on this mission. They where on their way to the Hyuga compound when Sakura stepped out in front of them.

'So Naruto I figure you and Sasuke where both promoted to chunin then' she said, it was more of a statement than a question, she was still the know it all and hadn't yet got it fully out of her head that Naruto was far stronger than Sasuke and could beat him with out trying

'No' replied Naruto, a little irritated at the sudden interruption of his pleasant walk with Hinata

'So you weren't promoted to chunin the?' she asked expecting him to still be a genin like her

'No, I was promoted to Jokyu jonin' said Naruto, getting bored and tired of repeating himself, the only other person he really wanted to tell right now was Haishi

'You're lying, there's no such rank as Jokyu jonin' said Sakura getting angry at how he was lying to her so blatantly and expecting her to believe it

'You're right' started Naruto "Finally he's going to admit he's still a genin even though Sasukes been promoted to chunin" thought Sakura 'There was no such rank until yesterday, when the Fire Daimyo demanded it's creation for me, I now only take orders from 2 people, my father the Hokage and the Fire Daimyo himself' finished Naruto Sakura was raging now

'Why you…' she said bringing her hand forward to slap him only to find her hand stopping before it hit it's mark, she looked at her arm to see Hinata holding on to it

'You know full well not to attack your superiors' said Hinata, now Hinata was lying to her as well, Sakura would teach this wannabe kunoichi a lesson, she brought up her other hand to punch Hinata away so that she could carry on and hit Naruto, then she'd take care of Hinata but before she could strike Hinata had spun her round and was holding her arm behind her forcing it up

'I told you not to attack your superiors, I was promoted to chunin which means I out rank you and if you or any of the other wannabe kunoichi at the academy had ever bothered to watch me during practise instead of staring at Sasuke all the time you would know that my entire time at the academy I was holding back, I thought it best, just like Naruto so that you would underestimate me but we're done holding back and if you challenge us again you will find yourself the worse for ware' said Hinata firmly, she pushed Sakura away only for an even more enraged Sakura to turn round and try and attack her again, this time it was Naruto that grabbed her and enhancing his strength he crushed her wrist, he kept hold of her and moved his hand above his head an ANBU wearing an owl mask appeared next to him

'Yes Naruto-Senpai?' asked the ANBU

'Owl take her to Ibiki and tell him she has discipline problems, she doesn't respect her superiors' said Naruto, he wasn't in the mood to deal with her any more

'Of course Naruto-Senpai' said the ANBU, Sakura was in a state of shock, Naruto was being referred to as Senpai, but that would mean he was above the ANBU, could that mean he wasn't lying, he was ranked above the ANBU and took orders only from the Hokage and Fire Daimyo, the ANBU bound her hands and led her away with out her even really registering it, she couldn't piece it together.

Naruto and Hinata continued their walk to the Hyuga compound without further interruptions. They arrived at the gates and where greeted warmly by the guards, before moving on to the main room, within they found Neji helping to train Hanabi, Haishi looked up, to Naruto and Hinata before speaking to Neji

'Neji, continue to train Hanabi whilst I speak with these 2' he said, Hanabi however didn't seem pleased with being train by a 'branch house' member

'Why do I have to be trained by HIM' she said very spitefully, her voice full of contempt for her cousin

'Because, Hanabi, he has more talent and is more likely to become the clan head than you ever will' said Naruto, Hanabi spun round glaring daggers at Naruto

'And what would you know about who's going to be the next head of the clan commoner' she said glaring hard her voice now laced with hatred for this lowlife, what business did he have in here anyway

'Hanabi I suggest you speak more kindly and be more selective with your words when you speak to the future clan head, he only takes orders from the Hokage and the Daimyo and if he decides to teach you a lesson there is nothing any one in this room can do about it' said Neji, Hanabi instantly shot back round now glaring daggers at him

'As if, this commoner wouldn't stand a chance against me' said Hanabi, Naruto found this rather comic and sent a questioning look to Haishi, who responded with a nod, he knew that Hanabi needed to be pulled down a couple of notches and who better than a 'commoner'

'If you really think you're that good then show me what you can do Hanabi' said Naruto walking into the centre of the room, Hanabi looked to Haishi who just smiled and nodded his consent, Hanabi then dropped into a Jyuuken stance before launching herself at Naruto and quickly delivering powerful blows to the motionless targets chakra points, Naruto just stood there smiling till she backed away smirking at having closed most of his chakra points

'Well now, if I was a normal opponent that would have been quite effective, unfortunately for you I'm not' said Naruto as Hanabi watched in utter horror as all her work to close the charka points was undone and each and every chakra point opened on it's own

'How did you do that it's impossible' she demanded, she hadn't once shown any of her emotions

'For most it would be, but I'm not most, reopening 30 chakra points is easy, hell reopening all 128 isn't all that hard for me, right Neji?' said Naruto looking at Neji

'Even Orochimaru couldn't do what you did when I closed all your chakra points' replied Neji, Hanabi was starting to wonder if taking on this guy was such a good idea, Neji never spoke to anyone with actual respect in his voice, the words he used might've been respectful but his voice never was and the only way she could describe his tone of voice when he spoke to this guy was one of absolute respect and admiration

'So you reopened a few chakra points, I'll still beat you, you're no match for the gentle fist style' she said getting back into her Jyuuken stance

'Ok then, let's see how well you do against a moving target then shall we' said Naruto smiling at how confident Hanabi sounded even now, she was certainly doing a good job of concealing her emotions but he could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She launched herself at him, she couldn't feel herself hitting him and his chakra points didn't close but he didn't look to be moving, then she felt one of the points on her arm close but still she kept attacking, then she felt another close and another, for around 3 minutes she kept up a steady rate of attack slowly feeling more and more of her chakra points close, it didn't make sense how could he hit her chakra points, he wasn't even moving never mind having the Byakugan needed to see them, she jumped back and looked at him, she could hardly stand and he had fought her it would seem, with his eyes closed

'What did you do, and how did you do it' she demanded, Naruto just smiled without opening his eyes

'Tell me have you noticed the change in your sisters and cousins eyes?' he asked still with out opening his own, Hanabi was confused, what difference could there be, she looked at her sisters eyes and then she saw it, the pupil that didn't exist in Hyuga eyes and the colouration, that lovely blue that shouldn't be more than a light tint that you could only see close up

'So what, they've lost their Byakugan, that makes them useless to the clan now' Smirked Hanabi, then Naruto opened his eyes, she was shocked, she'd never even heard of eyes like that, never mind seen them

'You're right, they haven't got Byakugan anymore, but you're wrong about them being useless to the clan, both now posses Junkagan a more powerful version of the Byakugan that only I can awaken' said Naruto

'Then you should awaken mine, I am of the main house and therefore it is my right to have that power' demanded Hanabi, Naruto swiftly moved forwards and placed his hand on her forehead

'You do not deserve to be in the main house, until your attitude changes you will be classed as below a branch house member, the branch house have had their caged bird seals removed but you now bare one, it will serve as a permanent reminder that you can't have everything because of your birth, some things must be earned, and both Hinata and Neji have shown to me that they are worthy of it' said Naruto firmly, Hanabi turned to Haishi

'Father you must remove this from me, I'm a main house member I shouldn't have this' she demanded, Haishi smiled

'I cannot, Naruto out ranks me and since he is not yet officially part of the clan it is not a clan decision and when he becomes part of the clan he will be its head, you must prove to him that you are worthy for it to be removed, further more I think he has made the right decision, you have become arrogant and that will weaken you I will back and enforce his decision within the clan, until you have proven yourself worthy to him you will not be trained by myself or Neji any more, you will have to find another clan member to train you and I think you will be hard pushed to do so' said Haishi firmly, Hanabi ran off crying, he hadn't wanted to put the caged bird seal on Hanabi but Naruto had done it for him, it was the only way she was going to learn that she had to respect people in order to be respected.

'So Naruto what brings you here anyway?' asked Haishi

'I'm here to inform you that I shall be leaving on a mission with Hinata tomorrow, I can tell that Neji has already informed you of our promotions' said Naruto he then turned and spoke to Neji 'I've also informed Lee and Tenten so if you want to say good bye we'll be meeting at Ichirakus at lunch time tomorrow' he finished

'I'll see' replied Neji

'Very well then, I wish you both the best of luck' replied Haishi. Naruto then walked over to Hinata and kissed her on the lips

'I'll see you tomorrow Shinju' he said

'See you tomorrow Naruto' replied Hinata, Naruto then left.

I didn't intend to put that bit with Hanabi on but I felt it would work quite well

Next chapter: The Damn Council, Heading for Wave, The First Opponents, A Shortcut to Wave, Reinforcements: Chapter 12 - To Wave Again


	12. To Wave Again

Power – Redefined

Chapter 12 – To Wave Again

Sorry had to take it down when I realised I hadn't sorted it out with page breaks yet

* * *

Narutos walk home was uneventful, his thoughts revolved around who he was going to let move in with him, he wanted Hinata to move in but he also wanted Sasuke, the decision was not an easy one to make for him. The walk shouldn't have taken him more than 10 minutes but he'd slowed down so much with thinking it took him a full half hour to get home, he walked up to his front door and put the key in the lock, he hardly ever used the front door but tonight he just wasn't thinking, if he'd tried to think about where his keys where he never would've found them, instead his hand just moved to their location and pulled them out.

He walked into his apartment and immediately he felt something was wrong, he placed his hand on the hilt of one of his wakazashis and slowly moved to turn the light on, as the light came on his eyes quickly adjusted to it, he couldn't see anyone in the hallway or in any of the rooms from where he stood, he slowly moved forward and turned towards the front room, he reached into the room and flipped the switch inside and looked around, his eyes fell on some one standing in front of the window looking out, they wore a black cloak with the Konoha emblem printed in white on the back.

In an instant Naruto was standing behind them with the blade to their throat

'Who are you?' he whispered

'Hello son, I didn't even hear you come in' said Minato, Naruto removed his blade and sheathed it

'What brings you here tonight Dad?' asked Naruto moving back and sitting on the couch, Minato turned round, pushed the hood back and leaned back on the window sill

'A couple of things, the first is that I'm here to offer you a house within the walls of the Namikaze compound, it's your choice if you want to take it and which of the other 4 houses you take' he said

'I'm not sure right now, but I probably will when I get back from the Land of Waves' replied Naruto

'That's fine, unfortunately the second isn't so pleasant, the council has demanded you take at least one more wife, unfortunately they've found a loop hole in the marriage agreement between myself and Haishi, whilst it protects both you and Hinata from arranged marriages it does not protect you from forced civil partnerships, the council has agreed to give you 4 years to find a second fiancé or they will arrange the civil partnership themselves and before you say they can't do it, they can, an old law to protect any kekkei genkai states that the last male with any given kekkei genkai may take at least 2 female partners, they're using it along with a couple of other laws to force it, it states that women can't be forced into marriage for this reason to protect them from rape, you are going to need to discuss this with Hinata, I'll do what I can to see if I can find some way to get you out of it, but I suggest you prepare to have at least one other partner, I'm sorry son' said Minato, looking at the floor, Naruto laughed causing Minato to look up, what could he find so funny about this

'How ironic, now that I'm the last with the Fuengan and no longer have Akahito sealed within me they want me to not only live but have lots of children, 6 months ago their thoughts where on the sooner I was dead the better' said Naruto, Minato could see now, the village had always wanted Naruto dead for the fox sealed within him but now that he had his kekkei genkai and didn't have the fox he'd become as valuable to them as Sasuke

'Yes irony loves to stick its nose in' said Minato

'I can't say I'm happy with it and I doubt Hinata will be, I will talk to her, but I will want to speak to the council and you can give them this warning, if my decision is not adhered to I will leave the village and take Hinata with me, it is a promise not a threat I'm sad to say, but I will not be pushed around by the council any more and if the only way I can avoid that is to leave Konoha then that is what I will do' said Naruto firmly

'I understand fully and I'll tell the council your wishes, with that hanging over their heads you could probably get almost anything from them and if they don't I can't see them being the council after the Daimyo hears what happened' said Minato solemnly

'Thanks Dad, good night' Said Naruto walking up and hugging his father, it was still a uneasy experience for him but something told him the situation was right for it

'No problem, good night Naruto' replied Minato returning the hug, after a few moments they broke the hug and Minato disappeared in a yellow flash and Naruto went to bed.

* * *

The next morning: a street in Konoha

Naruto was looking around the stores getting the few remaining items that he needed for the trip, every store would now sell him things at the normal price, they'd all heard about how powerful he was and between the initial rumours of the promotion he got and the first hand accounts of what he did to Sakura the day before no one wanted to risk what he might do to them although many where still unwilling to believe he no longer contained the Kyuubi. As he was walking along the street he heard some one call his name, turning around he saw Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon running towards him

'What do you three want' he said as they stopped in front of him

'Why did you put that thing on Hanabis forehead, she didn't deserve that' said Konohamaru angrily, Naruto sighed

'Yes she did Squirt, she hasn't got any respect for other people and before you start, she respects you because of your grandfather, that makes you worth her time, Moegi and Udon have your respect and friendship and so she accepts them because of you, if they weren't friends with you she wouldn't even give them the time of day' explained Naruto, Konohamaru looked downcast, he thought he was finally starting to find people who liked him for himself and to learn now that even someone his own age was only interested in him because of his grandfather was quite upsetting

'So are you going to remove it?' he asked half heartedly

'I will, when she learns to respect people for who they are not their social position, her sister always liked me even though I was an orphan however the first time she spoke to me was yesterday, she didn't know that I was engaged to her sister or that I was the son of the current Hokage and she called me a commoner, after she learned I was the next clan head I could see her opinion change but I knew it was only because I was going to be the clan head, I will say this for her, she did stand by her initial comments, that is until she found out I was a Hokages son, then I became worth her time' said Naruto calmly

'OK then I understand' said Konohamaru

'But Konohamaru, you said you'd get him to remove it' said Moegi

'That was before I knew why he'd put it on in the first place, all my life people have referred to me as 'Honourable Grandson' the first time I met Naruto he hit me and when I said about being the Hokages grandson his reply was that he didn't care if the Hokage was my grandmother, he didn't care about giving me respect because of some one else, hell he hardly showed any respect to my grandfather, I knew he would treat me as a normal person, if I wanted respect from him I had to earn it and I wanted to, Hanabi is the opposite she expects people to give her respect because of her family and this is a lesson she needs to learn' he said firmly, Naruto could see Moegis eyes light up as she heard him talk, she really liked him, maybe even loved him and she understood the point he was making

'I'll see you guys around, I've got to get ready for a mission, I'm leaving in a couple of hours' said Naruto as he started to turn around

'Hey Naruto, did you get promoted to chunin yesterday?' asked Udon, Naruto looked back with his foxy grin

'Nope, I got promoted to Jokyu jonin' he said and watched as three young jaws hit the floor

'Hang on, there isn't a rank called Jokyu jonin' said Udon, thinking Naruto was lying

'There is now, by special order of the Daimyo, ask my Dad if you don't believe me' replied Naruto then he walked away and continued to look for what he needed.

* * *

Lunch time: Ichirakus ramen stand

'OK guys, order what you want it's on me' said Naruto as he sat at the far right with Hinata on his left and then Tenten, Lee and Tazuna on the rest of the stools.

All in all they ordered 17 bowls of ramen, Naruto having 10 and Hinata having 2, Tazuna and Tenten had 1 each and Lee had 3. 15 minutes after they started eating they where ready to leave, Tenten knew Naruto liked ramen and knew Lee could eat a fair amount but Naruto practically breathed the stuff, by the time Lee finished his first bowl Naruto was on his seventh, Naruto only took 10 minutes to finish all 10 bowls. They got up and headed towards the main gate, Tazuna, Tenten and Lee where carrying bags, Naruto had his Wakazashi strapped to his back and Hinata carried Owari like a staff holding it in her left hand with her right in Narutos.

Naruto wore his special uniforms with the four tailed fox printed on the right breast and the kanji for Fox Summoner on the back, Hinata had also elected to wear a uniform but instead of the steel like fabric she wore one of the simpler forest camouflage designs Tenten and Lee both wore their normal clothes and Tazuna had the same ones as the last time he came to Konoha

'Are we likely to have any trouble with enemy ninja before we reach our destination?' asked Lee

'I'm not sure Lee, Tazuna what is the merchant like?' asked Naruto

'He's far more ruthless than Gato was, before I left he was bringing in mercenaries to keep watch on the village and make sure that we didn't try and bring in any help' said Tazuna sadly

'So there is a high likely hood that we will be attacked several times, most likely by chunin to jonin level missing ninja, further more once we get near the village we're going to need to travel close but appear to be separate as well as taking on a civilian appearance, at least this time we know what we're up against' Said Naruto

'Yes, I realised last time when your sensei nearly called off the mission that if I did it again there was a high chance I wouldn't be as lucky and after the first attack it would be called off even if you where there, so I spoke with the Hokage and explained our situation and the agreement that was made last time, we had followed through with it and gradually paid the amount an A-rank mission cost so when I asked if it would be possible to do the same thing again the Hokage agreed' said Tazuna seeming a little happier that he could be honest about it this time.

* * *

They reached the gates and went through, Naruto and Hinata dropped to the back with Lee on point and Tenten guarding Tazuna. Naruto decided now was as good a time as any to talk to Hinata about what his father had told him last night, he knew it wasn't going to be easy so he decided to just say it outright

'The council is demanding I have another wife' he said, Hinata didn't seem all that surprised, which surprised him greatly

'What did they threaten?' she asked, he wasn't surprised that she knew the council had threatened something, she knew he wouldn't even of mentioned it if they hadn't

'If I don't marry twice within the next 4 years they will chose some one and force me into a civil partnership, however I don't see that being the case, I told my Dad that if they tried to force me I would leave the village and take you with me, whether you actually go or not is up to you but I will leave if they try' said Naruto, he knew he didn't need to say that she had the choice, she would go with him willingly, but he thought it best to say it so she didn't have any doubts about it being a choice

'I will go with you, there is no decision for me to make regarding that. Have you given any thought as to who else you might be willing to marry?' she asked

'No, I've only made one other decision regarding it, if I'm going to take a second wife then you are going to have as much say in it, if you don't like her then it's not important whether I like her or not, you will always be first on my list and that's the end of it' he said

'OK then, who in the village is there that we could look at?' she asked

'Tenten, Sakura and Ino to start with, although Tenten is with Neji now, I have a feeling Ino is looking at Shikamaru or Kiba and Sakura I won't even consider, particularly not after yesterday' replied Naruto

'I know Tenten is with Neji, I know Ino has some interest in Shikamaru but I think she's also got an interest in Choji I don't know about Kiba and we're in agreement on Sakura, so who else is there?' asked Hinata

'Well I'm not really sure, I'm not into older girls so that scratches off quite a few, or younger girls for that matter so that doesn't leave many anyway, and the only ones left in our age group are civilians and taking any of them isn't an option because any one that would be in a relationship with either of us is going to have to be able to take care of themselves otherwise they become a danger to both of us' said Naruto

'So where does that leave us?' asked Hinata, Naruto had taken note of the same bush twice and could see they'd been put in a genjutsu

'Well I'm not quite sure, however currently we're stuck in a genjutsu' whispered Naruto

'I know, I wonder when our opponents will decide to show themselves' whispered Hinata, as if on cue 2 plants grew up behind them and turned into 2 people

'Well, Well, Well, what have we got here? 4 cute lil' genin and an ancient bridge builder' said one of them, his voice was deep and sounded like he had grit at the back of his throat

'Heh, heh, heh, this'll be a piece of cake, I'll take the one with buns and the bowl cut in the green spandex' said the other, his voice sounded like it was once very deep but now sounded like he had a constant saw throat

'Fine by me, this should be fun' replied the first, Naruto turned round and looked at their forehead protectors, the symbol was Iwa's but had a slash running across the centre showing them to be missing ninja, he pulled a small book out of his left utility pouch and started to look through it

'Now then let's see, the one on the left is Ishiki Yoshida, missing ninja of Iwa, chunin level, considered C-rank, specialty is earth based ninjutsu with a secondary in genjutsu, on the right is Shouhei Kato, also Iwa, chunin, C-rank, weapons specialist with some skill in water based ninjutsu, well this shouldn't be too hard, Hinata can you take on the dirt disaster over there and Tenten I'll back you up with numb nuts here, Lee look after Tazuna' said Naruto

'Ok' said Hinata

'You're on' said Tenten

'I will not fail you' said Lee and with that he moved to beside Tazuna, Hinata quickly moved forward and created 3 shadow clones, whilst 2 moved straight at him the real Hinata and the third shadow clone moved to flank him, Naruto started to quickly go through hand seals, Shouhei had only a moment to look before Tenten had pulled a katana from one of her scrolls and he had to quickly dodge it whilst drawing his own katana from a scroll and blocking the next swing, Tenten kept him blocking and dodging giving him no opportunity for a counter attack.

After Tentens third attack Naruto finished the hand signs, put his hands in a focus sign and targeted Shouhei with it, as Shouhei moved Naruto followed his movements ensuring that he stayed in the focus sign at all times.

Hinata was making light work of Ishiki, he kept trying to take out the clones, which where dodging round his earth attacks and blocking them with water attacks from the lake a little way up, whilst the 3 clones kept him occupied she used the invisibility jutsu and timing her attacks with the careful attempts her clones made she was striking his chakra points and closing them one by one

Shouhei was struggling to match Tenten, she was excellent with weapons and he was no match for her but he figured with this much skill in weapons she would have little to no ninjutsu techniques, he quickly made some space and performed 10 hand seals, but to his dismay nothing happened, he quickly went on the defensive again as Tenten launched another barrage of attacks, he jumped back again and started to perform more signs, Tenten took the opportunity to seal her katana back inside the scroll and take out 2 wakazashi as he finished the last sign to again discover it wouldn't work she launched forward and attacked with both blades.

Shouhei barely managed to block one blade while the second cut his clothes as he dodged out of the way, he quickly analysed what was going on, for whatever reason his ninjutsu wasn't working, and his opponent whilst young was highly skilled and as proven already could alter her style to best suite each situation, his chance of survival was dropping fast, even if he survived this fight he still had to worry about the guy in the spandex guarding the bridge builder and the kid in black and by the look of Ishiki he was barely standing, even if he managed to defeat his opponent it looked like he wasn't going to be much help.

The main thing that was still worrying him was what had happened to his ninjutsu, it was then he noticed that Naruto was targeting him with a focus sign "Damn, if I'm going to have any chance of surviving this I'm going to have to find a way to beat this girl and then take out that guy, worrying thing is he seems to be the one giving orders, and considering the strength of these 2 how strong would that make him" thought Shouhei as he blocked another attack only this time the second blade nicked his arm, he was getting tired and fast, and this girl wasn't even looking like she was starting to tire

He managed to block both of the next attacks, but then took a severe blow to his shoulder, she'd attacked with both blades at the same time but using completely different movements "Damn she was holding back" thought Shouhei "Excellent, he was already fighting a full strength and now he's tiring out, time to take it up another notch and end this" thought Tenten pushing chakra into her arms and legs to increase her speed "Looks like Tenten won't be leaving him alive, at least Hinata will leave the other one alive long enough to answer some questions" thought Naruto

Tenten began attacking very quickly landing blows so quickly he couldn't block any of them, having not recovered from the last before the next hit, again and again she struck while Naruto maintained the focus sign and kept it focused on him so even if he got the opportunity he couldn't use any jutsu. As Naruto glanced through his Fuengan he could see that Hinatas opponent was barely standing and wouldn't last long, but he'd still be alive, unlike Tentens opponent who was also barely standing, but unlike his comrade who was suffering from chakra depletion and the closure of a good number of his chakra points he was suffering from a lot of pain and starting to suffer from blood loss.

As Shouhei stood shakily Tenten took a quick step back, spun on the toes of her left foot and as she turned back to face him the blade in her right hand levelled with his neck and she pulled the one in her left back so that the tsuba was in line with her body, then at the same point that the blade in her right hand started to cut through his neck she pushed her left hand forward and plunged the blade into his chest up to the tsuba. His head tipped to the side and then rolled off his shoulders and onto the ground as she finished the cut she pulled her blade from his chest and then she and Naruto glanced at Hinata to find she had her opponent subdued on the floor, apparently alive but unable to move, as she saw this she came out of her battle state, ran over to a tree and resting her hands against it for support she leant over and proceeded to get reacquainted with her lunch.

Naruto walked over to Hinata and kissed her on the cheek

'Good job Shinju I knew I could count on you to leave him alive for questioning' he said to her

'Thank you Naruto' she said quietly

'Now then as for you, start talking, I want to know who you're working for, who your commander is and what exactly where you intending to do with Tazuna? I would advise you to talk, we can stay here and watch you die slowly and painfully over the next 2 hours or so or you can answer my questions and I'll put you out of your misery now' said Naruto to the missing ninja, his face turning stoic and his eyes growing hard and cold, the missing ninja didn't seem bothered

'Ha, within an hour and a half there will be 4 more ninja the same level as me on their way to take the bridge builder and they'll just kill all four of you, your little girlfriend is almost out of chakra, the other girl over there seems to be a little low on energy too and I doubt you or the other guy have any strength at all' said Ishiki smugly, Naruto just laughed

'My fiancé used almost no chakra to take you out, the girl over there and the guy looking after Tazuna are hardly weak and as for me, well lets just say I would quite easily take out half of Iwa before I even started to notice I was missing chakra, I'm the son of Konohas yellow flash, The Fourth Hokage and I'm considerably stronger than he is' said Naruto, Ishiki didn't want to believe him but when he felt the chakra levels of the 2 kids standing in front of him he almost passed out from fear, the girls was low enough, but it was quite apparent that she was no where near running out and he'd already seen the level of her chakra control and as for the boy, he couldn't even tell how much he had or if he'd even used any of it, the chakra of the other 2 was a lot lower but he'd already seen that one was a weapons expert and he suspect that, since the other boy had almost no chakra, he'd be a very skilled taijutsu specialist.

'OK, I'll talk, I know when my comrades are out matched and at least by talking I can save their lives, we where hired by a guy called Suppai, he hired us to kill the bridge builder to make sure that he couldn't rebuild the Great Naruto Bridge, he knows he villages spirit isn't broken, despite how the villagers try to appear, my boss is a missing ninja from Iwa called Runin Chanbara, I would advise you not tell him you're the Yellow Flashes son, he was spared by him during the war and disgraced because of it, he lives only to find a way to redeem himself' said Ishiki, Naruto looked a little shocked at the name, Hinata picked up on it and wondered what was wrong

'Naruto what's wrong?' she asked worried about him

'My father told me about that guy, Runin Chanbara, when I got the Bingo book earlier I looked him up and made a point of committing the information on him to memory, he's a special jonin missing ninja, known for being able to use multiple large swords, as he said my father let him live and afterwards he swore revenge and redemption, when the opportunity for the Tsuchikage arose he challenged for the title but unlike the Hokage the position of Tsuchikage is decided by a series of test, he scrapped through the first test of loyalty to the village and then had to be stopped several times before he killed other candidates, he failed the final test, to be willing to protect the village but regardless it was proven then that in terms of power he was at least the level of a Kage if not stronger' said Naruto, he then stood up, turned round and spoke to Lee, Tenten and Tazuna

'Get ready to go now, we're moving out and we need to move fast' he said then Ishiki spoke up

'What are you going to do with me now?' he asked, fear laced into his shaky voice

'I'm going to let you live, but you're going to be waking up in a cell in Konoha at which point it's up to you to decide what you're going to do, a guard will be there to explain your options' said Naruto, he then hit Ishiki and knocked him unconscious and created a shadow clone, the shadow clone then placed a hand on Ishiki and vanished, Naruto then walked over to Lee, Tenten and Tazuna with Hinata following right behind him

'Ok then we need to put a good distance between us and here that will buy us the time we need before his companions arrive to see what's happened to him' said Naruto and walking over to Shouheis head and body he pulled out a scroll from his left utility pouch. When he reached the body he unrolled the scroll and sealed the head and body into it, he placed the scroll back into his pouch and walked back over to the group, they then moved off, running as fast as Tazuna could manage.

* * *

Half an hour later Tazuna was exhausted, they had managed to put 3 miles behind them and Naruto was hoping it would be enough to leave their would be pursuers behind and guessing for long enough while he did what he needed to do

'Alright we can stop here, Hinata can you keep a look out for any one on our tail, Lee, Tenten, rest but be on guard, you need to be able at a moments notice, Tazuna stay between me, Lee and Tenten' Instructed Naruto, Lee was puzzled and voiced his confusion

'What are you going to do Naruto?' he asked, looking at Naruto who was starting to sit down with his legs crossed, he looked up at Lee and smiled

'I'm going to start doing a jutsu, only problem with it is that it requires over 1500 hand signs so I need quite a lot of time, even the sharingan can't copy this one regardless of the speed I use it at, it's too long' said Naruto as he finished sitting down, he then put his hands together and started to focus his chakra, after about a minute he started slowly going through hand signs. Hinata had already activated her Junkagan and had sat down beside Naruto, after watching Naruto work Lee and Tenten sat down near Naruto in a triangle formation with Tazuna sitting in the centre.

'Have you any idea what he's doing Hinata?' asked Tenten, still not quite sure what Naruto was up to

'I have a vague idea, he mentioned last night about a jutsu that would allow him to travel huge distances in moments but it drains about half his chakra and takes a long time to perform, I think he's a little worried because when I asked him why he didn't just use it to take us straight there he said he'd rather not use it unless he felt that he really needed to' replied Hinata, Lee still seemed confused

'What could have gotten him worried?' he's probably the most powerful ninja in the world' he said, this time it was Tazunas turn to answer

'He isn't worried about himself and f I'm any judge he won't be worried about you guys, my guess is he's worried about Tsunami' said Tazuna

'Who's Tsunami?' asked Tenten thinking she may have been some one that Naruto saw as a potential girlfriend at one point or an ex even at best she thought he might see her as a kind of sister

'Tsunami is my daughter and from what I could gather from Narutos old Sensei Kakashi, she was the first person to treat Naruto the way a Mother would and to her son Inari Naruto became something of a brother, giving him the courage that he lost when his father was killed in front of his eyes, from there Inari was able to inspire the entire village to fight back that's why we called it the Great Naruto Bridge, this time we knew not to try and fight back with out the help we would need, the village is acting like it's lost hope but as soon as we know the tide is changing we'll be ready to do our part' explained Tazuna.

* * *

And another chapter draws to a close, thanks for reading

Next chapter: Arriving in Wave, Rebuilding the bridge, Friend or Foe?, Definitely Foe: Chapter 13 - A Return to Wave


	13. A Return to Wave

Power – Redefined

Chapter 13 – A Return to Wave

* * *

Lee and Tenten looked at Tazuna with their mouths wide open, it certainly wasn't what they had expected, then they looked to Naruto, he had picked up the pace with the hand signs and was now doing them at quite a rapid rate but a Sharingan or Junkagan user would still be able to see them, they suspected they would be there for quite a while if it was the jutsu Hinata thought it was it would save them a long time in waking but even at the speeds Naruto could perform the signs it would take quite a while to complete all 1500.

Over the course of the next half an hour Naruto continued to perform seals increasing his pace slowly and steadily now he was doing around 8 seals a second and it looked like he was still getting faster, Hinata figured he was about half way through the jutsu, then she picked up some one moving in on their position

'We've got incoming, just one for now, I can't tell who it is yet though' she said standing up and getting ready to fight, Lee and Tenten where quickly ready too with Lee dropping into his fighting stance and Tenten drawing a halberd from one of her scrolls, they waited patiently for their opponent to arrive, Hinatas Junkagan had more than 10 times the range of the Byakugan but when used at that range it currently lacked the definition but as with the Byakugan that could be strengthened with practise so that it could keep definition at that range and would always be able to view at least 800 meters beyond that with less definition.

After a few minutes Hinata dropped her guard slightly and waited while the person, who she apparently recognised got close enough for her to see if they had a henge on them or if it was the person it looked to be.

A few moments later Hinata completely dropped her guard and sat back down next to Naruto again, Lee and Tenten were confused for a moment as they watched her, then they looked to each other and followed suite, they knew the skills of the Byakugan well enough from Neji and trusted Hinata to make sure the person either wasn't coming this way or was an ally before dropping her guard, a moment later Hinata spoke

'Hello Kakashi-Sensei, to what do we owe the pleasure?' she seemed to ask the ether then Kakashi landed behind her

'When Narutos clone brought Ishiki to Konoha and informed an ANBU of what he'd told you the ANBU immediately told The Fourth, who decided that despite Narutos strength and your own strength he wanted an extra jonin level to be on this mission and, since I was late to pick up my mission, I was the only available jonin level and was sent out to aid you guys' explained Kakashi

As soon as he finished speaking Naruto finished going through seals, he stood up and moved his hand down in a straight line, leaving a purple glowing line in the air, he then appeared to grab the sides of the line and pulled it open to show the forest just outside Tazunas house, the portal then expanded till it reached the floor and was tall enough to fit Kakashis 5'7" plus half a foot for hair and wide enough for Naruto and Hinata to walk through together

'Don't ask now, just go through it and I'll explain on the other side' said Naruto effectively stopping Kakashi before he started to ask what it was, Kakashi walked through the portal first followed by Tenten, then Tazuna, Lee and Finally Naruto and Hinata walked through together.

* * *

As soon as Naruto and Hinata had stepped through the portal it closed behind them, Kakashi looked at Naruto quizzically on seeing the look Naruto sighed

'It's an advance form of the other technique I've been using but it's not good for quick escapes or moving into battles and I'm probably the only one that can use it, considering I've only got half my chakra left now' explained Naruto, Kakashis visible eye widened, he knew Naruto had a lot of chakra, hell he'd watched him perform several powerful techniques at the chunin exams that would have left him with almost no chakra if he'd done just one of them and it hadn't even touched his reserves and this one had taken half his chakra, that was a powerful technique and he was quite sure no one else could perform it

'You're right about that if you're down to half your chakra and it feels like you are, so what's the plan from here?' replied Kakashi, he wasn't even about to ask for details on the technique, it was pointless

'From here we go into Tazunas, we need to rebuild the bridge so as soon as Tazuna's sorted out the plan's that I'll create around 150 clones and henge them to look like different people, then we'll get on with building it, that way we can rebuild the bridge and keep the other villagers safe, I doubt it will take long for our opponents to show themselves once construction is under way and since we left tracks up until we walked through the portal I think some of them will be busy for a while, it'll probably take around 3 days to complete the bridge, I think we'll be better off building it from steel instead of wood' explained Naruto, Kakashi was surprised, Naruto had thought it through very carefully but he seemed to have missed something

'That's all good and well Naruto but how exactly to you plan on getting the steel and forming it into the shapes needed to build the bridge?' asked Kakashi, Naruto smiled

'I figured you might ask that, I've brought a forge in one of my scrolls, it's in pieces but it won't take long to build, I've also brought around 2 tons of steel and one of the reasons I selected Tenten is because she knows how to forge steel' replied Naruto, surprising them all, he really had thought the mission through, even planning the best way to give the village a better long term solution

'Okay, so when are you planning on beginning the process?' asked Kakashi

'I'll build it today and then we can start work on forging the steel and making the bridges primary structure first thing in the morning, I expect that by the afternoon we'll have finished the base and have enough steel ready to begin building the bridge properly, I'll use a jutsu I know to melt the steel at the point of contact with each other piece and lock them in place' replied Naruto

* * *

By nightfall the group was sitting in Tazunas small living room/dining area talking with Inari and Tazuna while Tsunami was in the kitchen making them tea with help from a shadow clone Hinata had created, after hearing from Naruto about how much he loved Tsunami's cooking, second only to Ichirakus ramen, she decided that she would take the opportunity to learn some of her recipes so she could make them for Naruto when they got back to Konoha.

Several days passed as the steel was forged by Tenten and 2 of Narutos clones and the bridge was constructed by nearly 200 henged Naruto clones, as the bridge was nearing construction Naruto sat with Kakashi and Tazuna and finalised the plans for the next couple of days. The final plan was as simple as it was complex, 2 clones would hide beneath the bridge and another would stand above them disguised as Tazuna when a clone would ask it for information about what to do with something or what to do next the clones would listen in and then one would disperse relaying the information back to the real Naruto who would pass it on to the real Tazuna who would then make the decision about what needed to be done with the information given to him and tell Naruto who would in turn create and then dispel another clone relaying the information to the clones at the bridge when they received the information the remaining clone under the bridge would then create a fresh clone and would wait till the next request for information was made before repeating the process.

The next day the plan was put into motion and a couple of days later the event they had been waiting for happened

'Bout time, time to get ready to roll guys, I've just learned something I shouldn't've till tonight' said Naruto standing up

'What do you mean Naruto?' asked Lee with a confused look on his face, Naruto looked at him and smiled

'One of my clones building the bridge was just destroyed by a precise and powerful gust of wind, don't worry Tazuna I'll send over Tenten to look after you, she's a powerful kunoichi in her own right' said Naruto smiling to the man

'I trust you Naruto and the best of luck to you and your team not that I think you'll need it for one second' replied Tazuna

'A little bit of luck is always a bonus no matter how powerful you are' replied Naruto as he walked out the door followed by Hinata, Kakashi and Lee

* * *

As they made their way to the bridge Naruto created and dispelled a clone, his orders where simple, to those at the bridge, act as close as they could to civilians, and only give the appearance of knowing nothing as long as they didn't see one fall to the clones with Tenten the orders where simpler still, inform Tenten to go and guard Tazuna then one will disperse and the other will remain to aid Tenten should the need arise.

Every few seconds he would get the information from 1 or 2 more clones signifying that they had been destroyed by the time they where halfway there nearly a quarter of the clones had been destroyed, one had even managed to see a senbon needle hit the back of another before 'freezing' at the sight and then feeling a gust of wind destroy it "So we have at least 2 opponents to deal with by the look of it the senbon user is highly skilled but I'm not too worried about that it's the wind user I'm worried about, I know that they're good, firing off wind that precisely is quite a feat one that I think Temari struggles considerably with even when not using her fan" thought Naruto thinking about the best way to combat their opponents.

A couple more clones dispersed and then a vital piece of information arrived, 3 targets confirmed a clone had managed to turn round a get a quick look at the area they were in all 3 wore cloaks to hide themselves but one of their right arms could be seen, it held a small fan and was very lightly built around the wrist was a small silver chain suggesting that they may be female but he wasn't about to make any guesses. Suddenly an influx of knowledge told Naruto that a large blast of wind had taken out all of his clones bar the 2 under the bridge "and more or less how to build the damn thing" he thought.

* * *

Moments later the group arrived at the bridge to see the 3 unknown ninja standing waiting for them, Naruto looked them over, one appeared to have quite a heavy build and was around 6'7" the next was standing around 5 feet to their left, they where a lot shorter, only around 4'4" and with a feminine air to them and the last was sitting off to their left on the railing of the bridge with their left leg bent at the knee and the foot resting flat on the side of the bridge with their right leg folded on top, a pair of black shinobi sandals on their feet, it was hard to tell their height but he guessed it was around 5'7" and the way they held their upper body definitely gave off a masculine appearance.

However these things didn't particularly bother Naruto, what he saw on the left breast of the black capes they all wore was what bothered him the image of an eye with five stars placed in the shape of a pentagram, it appeared to be the Fuengan

'What's that symbol you have on your capes?' he demanded, the one at the back turned their head towards him slowly they reached up and pulled down their hood to reveal a young man that looked no older than 20 he had a scar running down the left side of his pale face, his hair was cut short and a greyish blue in colour but he kept his eyes closed as he faced Naruto

'Not that it's any of your concern but it's our families Kekkei Genkai, the Fuengan' he replied calmly, his voice was soft but sounded almost solid, Naruto looked at him carefully

'If that's the case then it's very much my concern, it's the first time I've come across another Fuengan user, tell me what's your name' said Naruto cautiously, he was hoping to avoid a fight if they really where potential family to him

'I seriously doubt that you are capable of using the Fuengan, my name is Wahei Uzumaki eldest, that's my brother Taihei and our sister Utsuri, we are the Uzumaki trio' replied the man, pointing first to the large guy who removed his hood to show long black hair and a very angular face with long sideburns reaching to his jaw line and then to the smaller female who pulled her hood down to show long hair with a colour somewhere in between that of a strawberry and an orange her skin wasn't as pale as her brothers looking as though she had spent some time in the sun where her brothers didn't venture out of a cave she also kept her eyes closed

'I think you'll find I can, my name is Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, son of Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage of Konoha and Kushina Uzumaki of Konoha' said Naruto calmly, all three instantly opened their eyes, Wahei revealing chocolate coloured eyes, Taihei revealing eyes almost the colour of an orange traffic cone and Utsuri revealing eyes the colour of grass exactly the same as Narutos mother Kushina had

'How do you know the name of our aunt?' asked Taihei his voice was very deep and held a sadness that could almost make you think he had the worries of the world on his mind

'And how dare you lie and try using her name against us' growled Utsuri making it very hard to discern what her normal voice sounded like, Naruto closed his eyes before speaking again

'Why would some one who has spent his entire life wanting nothing more than to have a family and who has used the Fuengan to advance his best friends Sharingan to Mangekyo Sharingan and his fiancés Byakugan to Junkagan lie?' asked Naruto as he finished he opened his eyes to reveal the five stars of the Fuengan to the group in front of him

'Don't try to trick us with Genjutsu' said Wahei as he and the other 2 activated their Fuengan, Naruto smiled and activated the Kakeme and using the vision of the Fuengan used it on all three at the same time, the world turned black for a moment for the 3 Uzumakis before revealing the desert land of the Kakeme

'How did we get here? Did you do this Wahei?' asked Utsuri her voice was very similar to Hinatas just a little deeper with a slight edge to it, she looked to her older brother who she'd seen in her peripheral vision, he shook his head with quite a shocked look on his face, she turned to Taihei who very obviously hadn't by the shocked look on his face

'It was my doing, I realised you would need a demonstration of my Fuengan before you would believe it was real and now I'm going to show you some of my milder child hood memories' said Naruto then images started to flash in front of them, they started showing a fire raging all around and then spun round a small rundown flat to a door and attempts to kick it down by very small feet from there it shifted to looking up at a night sky with the edges of buildings visible at the edges the image moved to show a man kneeling on a small arm then quickly over to show someone else kneeling on an arm on the other side, then a scream went up, the scream of a young child in pure agony, the man kneeling on the arm got up to show a kunai stabbed through the small hand at the end of the arm. Over the next several days various images flashed in front of them all showing the same small body being tortured in very cruel ways finally it stopped and Naruto spoke again

'As I said before I started, that was just a small sample of the milder attacks I endured before I was 8 years old, many attacks both before and after where far worse' said Naruto, his voice sounded like it was going to break as he remembered some of the worst attacks he'd suffered, there was no hint of lying in his voice and he looked the three in the eyes as he told them, much like the Sharingan and the Byakugan it was impossible to lie to someone when they used the Fuengan, Naruto had made sure to let them keep using it so they could tell he wasn't lying.

The three where awestruck with what they saw, they couldn't imagine anyone being so cruel never mind being that cruel to a child and if those where on the mild end of the spectrum they didn't want to see the more brutal attacks, Suddenly it struck Wahei that they might have had good reason to attack, they may have taken it too far but they may have had good reason to attack in the first place

'Why did they attack you?' he asked, his voice held suspicion as though it may have been Narutos fault in some way

'Because I was a Jinchuuriki, the living jail to the Kyuubi no Yoko that attacked the village the day I was born, it killed a lot of people that night before my father sealed it away inside me' he sighed heavily before continuing 'All the villagers could see was the demon itself not me the boy, only thing was they never really could kill me, something of a gift and a curse from him, I can regenerate from almost any wound, no matter how life threatening it should be' explained Naruto, when he finished something struck Taihei as being odd a word seemed out of place

'How could you have been a Jinchuuriki, shouldn't you still be one now, as far as I knew when a Jinchuuriki had their demon removed they died?' he asked cautiously

'That's right, if a demon is removed from its jailer the jailer dies, however I am one of only 4 Jinchuuriki in history to find love, thanks to Hinata, she was put in a life threatening situation and because of that I merged with the Kyuubi, keeping its power and knowledge but becoming the dominant personality in order to save her life, for a being of pure chakra like the Kyuubi, more so than for a human or an animal, when all its chakra is drained there is nothing left of it so it was destroyed changing me from a Jinchuuriki to a former Jinchuuriki' said Naruto

The three stood speechless in shock, he'd been through hell, done something considered impossible for one such as himself and crowned it off with something that basically seemed so farfetched and yet they could see he wasn't lying, it wasn't even as though he just believed it to be true, he knew it to be true, slowly the world faded to black again and they returned to the real world.

* * *

As they returned to the real world Utsuri suddenly burst out crying and ran to Naruto, Lee started to move forward to attack her when Hinata put her arm in front him to stop him, Kakashi just stood back with an amused look on his face

'But Hinata she's going to attack him' he said confused

'Look Lee' she said pointing to the girl with her free hand as the girl made a stumbled dash towards Naruto with the tears freely flowing down her face 'she's not going to attack him and even if she was do you think Naruto needs your help, he took out Gaara without breaking a sweat' replied Hinata, Lee looked a bit upset, once again he'd been out done, but as always when it came to Naruto when he remembered the reason why Naruto gained that strength he couldn't help but smile, he'd found the ultimate precious person, a life partner and had done the impossible again to protect her, he knew he would have done it at the cost of his life, but he hadn't needed to and that was something Lee was glad for.

Utsuri reached Naruto, tears streaming down her face like a burst dam, she threw her arms around him and cried on his shoulder then slowly fell to her knees still clutching him, then she started repeating the same words again and again

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' she said for around 5 minutes she neither moved nor said anything different, her brothers had been to shocked to say or do anything, then Taihei also fell to his knees crying and Waheis face took on a very grave and very sad look he dropped onto his feet from his position sitting on the railing, hung his head and walked slowly and calmly towards Naruto

'We're all sorry' he said then he lifted his head and looked Naruto in the eye and continued 'Had we known that our cousin lived in Konoha we would have joined you there' he finished

'It was better you didn't, from what I've learned from various people had you joined me in Konoha and associated yourselves with me you would have been given much of the same treatment, maybe even attacked yourselves and unlike me you wouldn't have lived, better you know now when it's not a problem and I don't have to worry than having found me sooner and either had to watch yourselves as they attacked me or be attacked and me having had to watch as they either severely hurt you or even killed you in front of me' replied Naruto, his answer surprised Wahei, the boy really was too kind, he'd only just met them and already he cared enough to be worried about them then a thought struck him like a sledge hammer

'So I take it our aunt Kushina is dead along with our Uncle' to was more a statement than a question but Narutos answer surprised him completely

'Unfortunately my mother died giving birth to me, I never met her however my father recently rejoined the land of the living and has once again taken his post as the Fourth Hokage of Konoha' he said

'Uncle Min is alive?' asked Taihei looking up, his eyes filled with hope

'He died sealing the Kyuubi within me' he said and the look on Taiheis face could only be described as devastated but he continued 'but thanks to a deal with the Shinigami and one young boy obsessed snake sannin named Orochimaru he is once again back amongst the living, so yes my father is very much alive' he finished, the only way to describe Taiheis face would be to compare it to a 5 year old girl learning she had gotten a pony for Christmas, he then walked up and stood behind Wahei and Hinata walked up and stood next Naruto who then slipped his arm around her waist, which didn't go unnoticed by Wahei

'I'm I correct in thinking you are Hinata?' he asked, Hinata nodded in reply, he then walked towards her and knelt in front of her 'A perfect name for the one who brought light to our cousins life, know that as long as you are with him you have our protection' he said earnestly, Hinata blushed at the compliment but was very grateful that they where not going to fight.

'Well, well, well what do we have here, the great Uzumaki siblings defeated, well at least I don't have to pay you now' came a voice from the end of the bridge opposite the village, it was a heavy voice but sounded as though it was forced and the tone was a dark but jovial one.

Instantly Wahei, Taihei and Utsuri spun round glaring daggers at the man on the end of the bridge he was exceptionally tall at around 7'4" but looked so thin that a light breeze would carry him away like a feather, he wore and black business suit with black leather laced shoes, a light blue shirt and a tie the same colour green as Lees spandex suit

'So you must be Suppai, the merchant that took the place of Gato' said Naruto calmly, the three before him looked at him with a shocked expression, he already knew the name of the guy and was certainly not afraid of him

'That's right although I'm a little surprised you know my brothers name, still I heard he got beaten by a Konoha ninja dressed in orange' said Suppai shrugging his shoulders 'may I know the name of the people I'm about to have killed?' he asked with a smirk

'Well you aren't going to be killing any of them so you don't need to know their names but I suppose you should know my name since I was the one that killed your brother and will kill you, it's Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki' he said calmly

'Eh, Naruto, so you're the one they named the bridge after and the reason THEY WON'T GODDAMN BREAK, KILL THEM' He shouted

* * *

That was just too good a place to stop to carry on, sorry.

Next chapter: A battle or a slaughter?, Councils consequences revealed, Welcome Information, Returning to Konoha: Chapter 14 – New Arrivals


	14. New Arrivals

Power – Redefined

Power – Redefined

Chapter 14 – New Arrivals

Sorry it's taken a while, suffered a bit of writers block, next chapter will be up sooner I hope

+OoOOOooO

As he finished well over 1000 Ninja and thugs appeared from out of the surrounding woods, 3 more Narutos appeared in front of the group and charged at them, slicing at them with their wakazashis, cutting off anything in the way of their blades, fingers, hands, forearms, whole arms, lower legs, legs, heads and even cutting people in half already the once black bridge was quickly turning the crimson of blood. Wahei Taihei and Utsuri got up and moved to help the clones

'Leave it to the clones, I'll take care of all of this, it will be a message to all those who think they can control the Land of Waves, I will not allow any to control it' said Naruto, the three quickly understood, it was something he had to do though why he had to do it they weren't sure about

'Very well we'll leave this to you' said Wahei. Then Naruto did something that surprised them all, he sat down, pulled out a blank scroll and started writing something, they all looked on an image of shock on each face. After about 5 minutes he finished writing and rolled up the scroll, bit his thumb and slammed his palm on the floor a plume of white smoke ensued and as it cleared a 2 tailed yellow fox with red tips to its ears and tails appeared with a scroll holder on its back sitting facing Naruto it's tails wagging happily behind it

'How can I help you master?' it asked, its voice light with an edge that sounded similar to electricity crackling and a playful tone to it

'Denko Sekka I need you to take this message to Konoha and deliver it directly to my father, the Fourth Hokage code kekkai fukko then wait and bring me his reply, as quick as you can, this is of the utmost importance' said Naruto his tone deadly serious as he put the scroll in the holder on the foxes back

'Of course Master' replied the fox bowing before running off at speeds most ninja would struggle to keep up with, all standing around where gob smacked it was Kakashi that spoke first

'What was that about? What message did you send?' he asked, before Naruto answered one of his clones dispersed to inform him that the other 2 where holding Suppai and every one else was dead

'I'll explain in a few minutes, I've just got to take care of this first' he said as he got up and walked over to where Suppai was kneeling on the floor being held down by the 2 remaining clones, he stopped around a foot away from him and looked him dead in the eyes 'As for you, you have tormented others, hurt them mentally and physically to bend them to your will, now you will experience how it felt for your victims whether dealt with by your own hand or under your supervision you will know their pain' he said, his voice monotonous and cold his eyes dark almost dead then they switched to the five stars and for a full five minutes he stared straight into the fear filled eyes in front of him then suddenly Suppai slumped over his eyes closed and his body started pouring sweat

'He's done a lot, and if what I saw was anything to go by not much of his life has been neutral or nice, despite the time differences in the technique it's taken this long for me to go through it, around 12 years of continuous torment, I'm a little surprised he's still breathing with that much torture, still his mind is broken now, I'm gonna leave it to the village to decide how to punish him since it's only fitting they do it' he said, one of his clones then picked up the limp body and headed for the village, he then passed a scroll to the other which started going around and collecting the heads of the missing ninja and Naruto himself walked back to the group

'Now then let's head back to Tazunas and I'll explain everything once we get there' said Naruto and with that he, Hinata, Lee, Kakashi, Wahei, Taihei and Utsuri moved off towards Tazunas house

Once they arrived back at Tazunas they all sat in the main room, it was a little crowded but they managed, Hinata helped by sitting on Narutos lap and everyone stayed quiet and focused to hear what Naruto had to say. Once he'd seen that everyone was ready and waiting he began

'I sent a message to my father, kekkai fukko means bloodline revival, I realised that if just brought my cousins back to Konoha it was likely that the council would try to force Wahei and Taihei into marriages before anyone could check whether they would need to or not, we already know that Utsuri can't be forced to protect her from rape but it may now be possible that they won't be able to force any of us so I asked my dad to dig into the laws and see how many where needed to stop them from forcing us it may take a day or 2 for him to find the information then either we'll all be able to safely go back to Konoha or those of us already attached will go back and find out what the councils' decision is for myself and then I'll make a decision regarding the rest of you depending on what they decide for me' he explained before looking around the room for any that may have questions, Kakashi was the first to decided to ask one

'So what happens if the council tries to force you to take a second partner?' he asked, Narutos reply was swift and left no room for arguments

'Then I will leave the village and with me will go Hinata, Sasuke and the sand siblings, I also spoke to Haishi about it and he's already said that if I left the village because of the councils' decision then the entire of the Hyuga family will be withdrawn from Konohas forces, even Neji backed the decision, I 'm going to tell them about Sasuke and the sand siblings before they make their final decision but they won't find out about the Hyugas until it's too late and if they want to change the decision so that I come back then they're going to have to make an irrevocable law that the council may never force any person into a marriage or civil partnership, then we will see just how desperate they are' he said, Kakashi thought it over for a few minutes before something else came to mind

'What about Minato-Sensei, what will he do if you leave?' he asked, Naruto smiled, he was looking forward to seeing Kakashis reaction

'He will stay in Konoha as the Hokage but he's going to do everything in his power to ensure that the council will have hell trying to do things they want too and with Danzo and Haishi helping him it should be interesting, it's likely that if we leave we'll just train and collect bounties on missing ninja, come back in 10 or 15 years when the council has changed, we will be part of Konoha but will not be given orders by them, Jiriaya has agreed to use his network to keep us informed of anything of importance' the next person to speak was Wahei

'What if the council doesn't force you but is still going to force us?' his voice was heavy with worry

'Then the same thing will happen, I will leave and take the others with me, the council will bend to my will or will lose the most powerful members of its military force because I will not be a puppet to them anymore, for once they can feel what it's like to be the one being manipulated by someone who cares nothing for them or their agendas' he said calmly

For the next few days Naruto created clones to help Tenten and Tazuna complete the bridge, another 50 or so to train Lee one to talk to and get to know his cousins whilst he trained and spent time with Hinata, Haishi had asked to test her against Hanabi when they returned because the previous council had made the arrangement that when the time came for an Heir to be officially named with Hinata being so weak at the time they expected to name Hanabi as heiress to the clan, the new council had seen Hanabis arrogance despite having the caged bird seal and many had heard her still regard Hinata as weaker than herself so they thought it would be best to go ahead with it.

In just 3 days with the help of shadow clones and several weight seals acting in different ways Hinata had successfully become adept in 3 more taijutsu styles, one designed for speed, one for power and one that aided in the fluidity of movements which after just a couple of hours practise had allowed Hinata to turn what had once been anything up to 12 attacks from 4 completely different styles into a single unbroken attack, using the Byakugan she would systematically pin-point and attack opening after opening giving her opponent no chance of rest and wearing them down very quickly.

Everyone got up and went through their usual routines, Tenten and Tazuna had completed the bridge the day before and now they where just waiting for the reply from the Hokage so that Naruto could make his decisions and they could return to Konoha, Naruto had formed a basic plan, one clone for the bridge to wait for Denko Sekka, six for Tenten, 100 for Lee, 1 would talk with Wahei, Taihei and Utsuri he had learned a lot about them as well as what had happened to their mother and father, one would stay with Kakashi at the house training Inari and he would personally work with Hinata.

Around lunchtime his clone from the bridge arrived with a scroll handed it to him and promptly dispersed itself, he looked at the seal on the scroll, his fathers' crest adorning it, he instantly recognised it as a blood seal and promptly bit his thumb and swiped it across the seal causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke, Hinata noticed the smoke, stopped what she was doing and joined him.

He opened the scroll and carefully read its contents:

Naruto,

I have checked the laws and found that whilst there is no guarantees it might be possible to persuade the council to let up on you if you where to donate your sperm for artificial insemination in other women.

As regards to the minimum number required for them to be unable to force you it currently stands at 4 members loyal to Konoha, it does not specify of what gender they must be. Therefore if you could find 3 other people using the Fuengan it shouldn't be a problem to stop them as once there are 4 people with any given kekkai genkai to law allowing polygamous marriages is no longer usable, however there is a slight glitch with it, again something put in place to protect kekkai genkai:

If by the time the youngest member is 24 years of age 1 or more members have not become engaged or successfully married or one or more members are unable to procreate then they are, for the purpose of this law considered unable to use the kekkai genkai, they maintain any clan status they have that is recognised in relation to this law.

I seriously hope you've found your 3 cousins, I had feared them dead and if they are added to the ranks of Konoha shinobi then the council will be unable to do anything.

I look forward to your return

Love

Your father

Naruto smiled and handed the scroll to Hinata she quickly read through it and smiled broadly, this was exactly what Naruto wanted, he could return to Konoha without fear of having to leave or trying to bend the council to his will. Hinata handed the scroll back to him and while he rolled it up she carefully dismissed her clones once done they headed off in the direction of Tazunas house, along the way Naruto created and dispelled a clone to pass the information onto the others to bring everyone back to the house.

How on earth he managed it when he was the closest to the house was completely beyond the comprehension of any of those present, even the clone that had been with him couldn't work out how it had taken them half an hour to walk a distance that should've taken Inari no more than 5 minutes but somehow Kakashi had made a 25 minute detour, while walking in a straight line. Naruto looked around the room before beginning

'Now that everyone is finally here' he paused as everyone in the room turned to glare at Kakashi 'I have received a reply from my father regarding the law, I was careful to put nothing in my letter that could've hinted at having found even information suggesting the possibility of surviving Fuengan users other than myself, however my father knew exactly who I'd found, I also included a delayed progress report which the questions I asked where hidden within, the information he sent back is quite interesting as it holds 2 base scenarios' he paused and looked around the room to find that other than Hinata, who was snuggling up to him and sounded almost asleep, he had everyone's full attention

'The first, preferable, scenario is that we all return to Konoha, the council gets to shove a brick up its collective arse so it can shit it back out when it finds out I've got 3 cousins all able to use the Fuengan and all capable of having children, thus shooting down in a brilliant ball of flames yet another attempt by the council of Konoha to control me' throughout this dialog his hands had been quite animated and everyone appeared very pleased with the news, however their joy dropped when the saw the solemn look on his face

'The second is that for whatever reason one of you 3 is unable to have children this puts any remaining males in a tough spot as that will then give the council the means they need to not only force myself but also any other male members into, in my case a civil partnership which I'm at least a little lucky in that Konoha law only permits one of, or in the case of either of you two' he motioned to Wahei and Taihei 'most likely at least 3 marriages each, fortunately for you Utsuri women cannot be forced into marriage to protect them from rape, that doesn't stop some of the clans from arranging them and then as they would say 'persuading' which basically amounts to 'do it or else' with any number of possible punishments depending on the clan and the individual' he explained, you could almost hear the cogs in Taihei's mind working, he wasn't always the quickest of thinkers but he was the one most likely to find the solution everyone else missed.

'Is there a way we can check before we return to Konoha to make sure?' he asked, Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before breaking out in his trademark foxy grin

'Yes there is, amongst my arsenal of jutsu there is one that does that, I'm sure that I will be fine as I've kept the healing ability and I seriously doubt that damn fox would've let me be sterile, although if I know him he probably modified me so that some of his traits would be passed on as well, but regardless we can find out' he answered, he then quickly started going through hand seals stopped and put his hands in a focus sign and then moved it first over Utsuri who was sitting directly across from him then moved to her left to Wahei and again to Taihei, he held on Taihei a little longer than the others before putting his hands down with a thoughtful look on his face again

'Well I've got some good news and some not as good news, first the good news, Wahei, Utsuri you're both completely fine but the not so good news is that Taihei, whilst you aren't sterile your tubes are blocked which causes a problem, I can fix it but the procedure is quite invasive and could leave your voice a few octaves higher for a few days although that's a 50/50 guess at best. It's your call if you want to do it or not, either I can do it or I can talk Utsuri or Wahei through the procedure and show them the technique so that they could do it, what do you want to do?' he asked

It was a difficult decision to make, he could still procreate but his chances of doing so where slim and everyone knew that that could be all the council needed to cause trouble, but if he could prevent it completely it was worth it and the quickest way would be to have Naruto himself do it

'What do you need to do it and how long will it take for you to do?' he asked, Naruto again got a thoughtful look before answering

'I don't need anything except a private room, it'll take about an hour to perform and you'll probably need to sleep until tomorrow morning afterwards' he said

'Miss Tsunami would we be able to use one of your rooms?' asked Taihei, Tsunami looked at the young man and smiled

'Of course you can, I'll go and make one ready now' replied Tsunami and with that she left to ready a room for them to use.

Around 20 minutes later Tsunami came back downstairs and motioned for them to go up, as Naruto and Taihei went upstairs Hinata went outside with Wahei and Utsuri to get to know them, Kakashi was going to take Inari and continue training him but Tsunami said she needed to talk to him about something so instead he went out with Tenten and Lee with the intention of helping Lee learn how to recognise and overcome genjutsu and giving Tenten some jutsu to learn to enhance her overall skills as well as a solid back up if she either ran out of or lost her weapons.

Around an hour and a half later a clone joined the 2 groups to bring them back to the house where Naruto was sitting beside at the small table near the door, Kakashi was not late this time after a threat from the clone that if he was late he would not be having a sexual relationship again and he sat to Narutos left with Lee to his left and Tenten after that, then Tazuna, Tsunami with Inari on her lap opposite Naruto then Utsuri on the far right corner with Wahei next to her directly on Narutos right and Hinata snuggled happily on Narutos lap

'He's sleeping now, all went according to plan and he should be fine, he'll be back to normal in a couple of days but may be' Naruto paused to think of the best way to word it 'A little sore' he finished, he then looked to Tsunami and she took the hint

'I've talked with my father and Inari and we've decided to go to Konoha with you and we will live there. It's time we moved on and whilst this place holds many great memories for us it also holds a number of bad memories and so we talked it over and decided a fresh start in Konoha is the way to go since we already have all of you there it will make settling in that much easier for us' she explained

'Sounds great, we leave the day after tomorrow so decide what you'd like to take and I'll seal it in scrolls the day we leave, saves trying to carry it' said Naruto happily

'Thank you' replied Tsunami smiling kindly

The next day passed by uneventfully, Taihei was up and about but moving, well waddling, around slowly, Tsunami had started gathering things together and Naruto was sealing them into scrolls Hinata sat at the table most of the day playing, or rather hammering, Lee at shogi, Tenten watched every third game between reading some novel and noticed that Lee was improving, just so slowly that he would reach the level Hinata was already at in about 10 years, Kakashi read his smut most of the day, initially with intermittent perverted giggles, until Utsuri threatened to chuck cold water over him AND the book if he didn't keep quiet and then put it away when Naruto threatened to take it and let her tear it up if he didn't put it away, at the end of the sentence the book promptly vanished, he then finished the rest of the day by teaching Inari to climb walls, whilst his chakra reserves would only allow him to climb the first floor it did also suggest that he had the potential for a very high chakra reserve if trained properly.

'Everyone ready to go?' asked Naruto, it was lunchtime 2 days after Taiheis operation, he was still sore but could walk at a pace that wouldn't slow the group down since it was still quicker than Tazunas, getting nods from everyone they moved off, Naruto and Hinata taking point, then Tazuna and Taihei behind them and Tsunami and Inari behind them with Kakashi and Wahei flanking them then Lee, Utsuri and Tenten at the back, they had decided on this basic formation to ensure that everyone stayed safe, it kept everyone close together with the able protecting the untrained and unable.

The journey took a total of 3 days with a group of 20 bandits that Hinata used as practise and a group of 2 that Inari took care of with Naruto keeping a careful eye in case he got in any real danger. By the time they got to Konoha Taihei was completely healed not even feeling any discomfort he had opted to take point until they got within sight of Konohas main gates at which point Naruto moved in front of him knowing the guards would be on alert seeing such a large number of people heading for Konoha. As they approached the gate one of the guards stepped into their path

'You do know you've just cost me a thousand ryo don't you?' he asked, Naruto just smiled, typical of these 2, any one else and they might've had a problem, these 2 where a different story, they where smart and able to analyse things quickly and the two cherries that, in Narutos opinion, topped it all off, they had only ever seen him as the boy and both had something of a hidden love for practical jokes, neither would admit it but more than once Naruto had seen them in stitches on the floor, completely unable to give chase after seeing some of his pranks

'Should've known it would be you 2 on duty, so I owe you 500 ryo, no problem, send a message to the Hokage and tell him that I'm on my way with company' replied Naruto putting his hands behind his head. As he walked by the guard he hi-fived him but as Taihei, Wahei and Utsuri approached the gate he the guard suddenly became tense recognising them from the bingo book, Naruto noticed his reaction and spoke to him

'Relax Kotetsu, they aren't going to be attacking anyone, they've come to join Konoha' he said monotonously

'How can you trust them, they're wanted in the bingo book, the Sokko siblings, the only person from Konoha to ever encounter them and live was Itachi Uchiha' replied the chunin guard, Naruto sighed and shook his head, how could he not have foreseen this "Well at least he didn't outright attack them"

'I can trust them because they're my cousins, my father already knows they're with us, y'know what screw the message we'll just go straight there, it'll be a lot easier once they have forehead protectors' he said then he walked over to the group, pulled Hinata in close to him and walked into the centre and activated his Fuengan 'alright everyone make sure everyone is touching, OK, everyone ready, later guys' he said and with that the group was gone.

Kotetsu and Izumo where gob smacked, they looked at each other then back at the location that the group had been in a repeated before Izumo spoke up

'Was that what I think it was?' his voice was a little shaky

'I-I-I'm not entirely sure, but what else could it be?' replied Kotetsu, again they looked at each other before Kotetsu walked back around to the inside of the guard post and they continued doing paperwork to try and pass the time, they didn't like it but it was less boring than doing nothing.

'Hey Dad' said Naruto as the group appeared in the Hokages office, to find Minato sitting with Haishi in front of him 'oh, Hello Haishi, are we disturbing you? We can wait outside if you want?' he asked

'No that's quite alright, we were just waiting for you to return, I had expected you would come back today, although I am curious as to why you just came straight in and didn't walk through the city?' replied Minato, Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly

'Well we where but Kotetsu and Izumo couldn't comprehend that these three weren't here to fight' He motioned to Wahei, Taihei and Utsuri 'I figured that any ANBU or jonin that saw them would likely have the same reaction till they had Konoha forehead protectors so it was easier to just come straight here' he explained

'And why have you returned Tazuna?' Minato asked the aged bridge builder

'My family and I have come to the decision to move to Konoha' he replied

'Very well, I will make the arrangements' he said and then turned his attention to his niece and nephews 'Wahei, Taihei it's so good to see you again and Utsuri it's good to finally meet you, you've grown so much, after your parents died I heard nothing about you and feared you all dead I'm glad to see my fears were unfounded, now then I just need to fill out a few forms and then I need to send you over to the hospital' Naruto shuddered when he heard that word and Hinata giggled at him 'and Tsunade will check you over and make sure you're fine. Once that's done I'll give you your Konoha forehead protectors' explained Minato as he started filling out the forms

'Thank you uncle Minato' said Wahei

'Father I know you'd like to get back home for this little match but I'd like to stay until all this has been sorted out if that's alright?' Hinata asked, Haishi smiled

'Of course we can wait, it will do Hanabi good to have to wait, there was talk amongst the council of using Hanabi as something of an example and continue using the caged bird seal as a punishment rather than a birth defect, it will still mark the person as a lesser being but instead of being for only branch members and only a lesser being in the eyes of the clan it would be in the eyes of Konoha and until they proved that they had changed and the reason it was put on was no longer valid it would stay' replied Haishi, Hinata didn't like the idea entirely but could see the logic, instead of being a mark that marked a majority it would mark just a few and show them as having done a serious wrong.

2 hours later they once again stood in the Hokages office facing Minato as he looked through the medical reports from Tsunade on each of the three ninja and he was surprised to find that each one showed them in almost perfect health

'Well now, you're all in excellent health, for now I'll put you on our roster as genin under Narutos command, before you complain I have no doubt that you'll be stronger than genin it'll only be for 6 months, since you have no pervious village affiliation I can't give you a higher rank till you've completed the chunin exams then I'll be able to give you ranks better in line with your skills' just as he said this there was a knock at the door 'COME IN' he shouted. The door opened and his secretary stuck her head round the door

'Sir the team you sent to Suna has returned, I'll have them wait till you're finished' she said

'No, No, send them straight in' He said quickly, the secretary nodded and disappeared back outside the door a few moments later Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Sasuke walked into the room 'Welcome home, I trust you had a good trip?' asked Minato

'Yes, thank you sir, after learning of your return and how easily Naruto had defeated me the Kazekage was all too eager to sign a peace treaty, with much of it going in Konohas favour' said Gaara

'Excellent, excellent, thank you Gaara, now then I'd like to introduce you 4 to the newest members of Konohas ninja force, the Uzumaki siblings' said Minato

'Wait you mean relatives of Naruto?' asked Sasuke, Minato smiled

'Yep, they're my cousins' replied Naruto, Sasuke turned to his friend and looked at him, no hint of a lie just overwhelming joy, he broke out in a smile

'I'm glad you're finding real family bro' he said, Gaara looked over the three ninja, the 2 boys didn't really bother him, the girl however, she caught his eye to him she was like a goddess, however his lingering gaze did not go unnoticed by either Naruto or Temari, and they both started forming plans, Naruto wit more ease than Temari, to get the 2 together

'Now then, Wahei, Taihei, Utsuri' said Minato "Even her name is perfect, Harmony" thought Gaara 'I think it would be best if you stayed in one of the houses at the Namikaze estate at least for the time being' Minato finished

'Sounds good, when do we get our first mission?' asked Wahei

'Not for a couple of days yet, we'll wait till you're properly settled in first, now here are your forehead protectors and have a good day all of you' said Minato handing forehead protectors to Wahei, Taihei and Utsuri and then going back to the paperwork in front of him that appeared to have grown

'Dad' said Naruto, this caused Minato to look at him 'Shadow clones' he finished, Minato smacked his forehead with his palm and 2 shadow clones appeared one on either side of him then every one left the room so he could get on with his work.

On to chapter 15 aaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh ayayayayayayay, oops I just stood in dog shit oh well, hope to have the next chapter up sooner rather than later

Next chapter: Heir of the Hyugas decided, Changes in the Hyugas, A Good night out: Chapter 15 - Serious Changes and Some Fun


	15. Serious Changes and Some Fun

Power – Redefined

Power – Redefined

Chapter 15 – Serious Changes and Some Fun

* * *

Naruto, Hinata, Haishi, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Sasuke, Utsuri, Taihei and Wahei had gone to the Hyuga compound and now Hinata stood in one of the external sparring grounds 6 feet from Hanabi waiting for Haishi to signal the match to begin. Around 10 feet behind Hanabi sat the Hyuga council, eager to see what each of the 2 young girls that could be the heir to the clan could do, most expected Hanabi to win but a few had noticed the air of confidence radiating from the elder girl and suspected that she was likely to win and about the same distance behind Hinata sat everyone except Naruto, he stood between the girls opposite Haishi with a clone on each third along the ring and one on each corner to assist in judging the match.

'There are three rules to this match, no biting, no scratching and no killing' said Haishi looking first at Hinata and then at Hanabi, seeing both girls ready 'Begin' he said and then he and Naruto quickly jumped back.

Hanabi made the first move, rushing forwards with her left arm in front palm facing Hinata and her right arm pulled back so that her right hand, in the same position as her left, was level with her abdomen, when she got in striking range she pulled her left arm back and the same time as pushing her right arm forwards, Hinata easily pushed her arm aside and struck the now stumbling Hanabis right shoulder closing her chakra point and rendering her arm useless. Hanabi then fought to open her closed chakra point and Hinata took the opportunity she had created, swiftly crouching down and hitting the point on the top of Hanabis left thigh with her left hand then spinning on the ball of her right foot and delivering a blow to the same point on the top of Hanabis right thigh.

The effect was instant as Hanabi tumbled to the ground with both legs and her right arm out of commission, she shifted her attention to her left leg to try and continue the fight but with her attention diverted again Hinata deftly spun behind her remaining in a crouched position she put her right arm over Hanabis shoulder, under her chin and then looped it round so that her finger was positioned at Hanabis temple and at the same time moved her left arm round the side of her younger sister and positioned her hand with 2 fingers aimed at her heart

'The match is over, the winner is Hinata' said Haishi as Naruto dispersed his clones. Haishi then turned his attention to the council 'I trust this proves that Hinata is in fact considerably more skilled than Hanabi and you're decision from viewing this match will reflect that' he said, one of the council members stood up to speak he looked about the same age as Haishi although about 5 inches shorted his light brown hair cut to shoulder length and framing his face

'Well I for one was impressed by the display but those skills did not look to be of the Jyuuken style am I correct?' he asked

'You are, I learned a number of other styles to enhance our own Jyuuken as I've learned it is too easily defeated when an opponent is faster than the user, so I took my natural strength, my flexibility and incorporated a style that complimented it, I also learned a style better suited for power and increased my speed and strength to allow the style to be of use when fighting someone of greater speed but lower flexibility and strength allowing me to react better to changing situations and combat different opponents' Explained Hinata, the council member looked thoughtful for a moment

'Would you mind having a spar with me? I'd like to see just how much potential your new skills have' asked the council member

'If you would like, I'd be happy to do so now' replied Hinata, Naruto quickly made his shadow clones again and sent them to the same parts of the ring, as well as one more to move Hanabi out of the way and reopen her chakra points, the council member moved into the ring and Hinata resumed her starting place, Haishi stepped in between them

'The rules are the same as before, on biting, no scratching and no killing, ready?' he looked between the 2 and received a nod from each 'Begin' and again he and Naruto moved back. Both stood there for a few moments then 2 clones appeared on each side of Hinata and rushed at her opponent, at first he thought they where mere academy illusions as all Hyuga learned them to pass the exam, in fact the three academy jutsu where the only jutsu that any Hyuga knew, so when the clone landed a solid punch he thought it was the real Hinata who'd learned a trick or two from Naruto, unpredictable as he was. When the next one hit as well he quickly realised that he was fighting shadow clones, as the next one came in he quickly dispatched it, falling right into Hinatas trap.

Exactly the same way Naruto had done it against Tsunade in his genjutsu Hinatas fourth clone came straight through the smoke the dispersed clone created and landed 2 accurate strikes to each of his shoulders, it couldn't strike the vital spots that would have rendered the arms useless but it did slow them down, as he took out the fourth clone the remaining 2 came in from the back and kicked him in the back of the knees knocking him down and with the time they'd had to aim the strikes both had been aimed at chakra points, taking out his legs from the knees down but he managed to react quickly enough to take out one of the clones.

As he fell he was caught by the original with a hand on his chest over his heart and the last clone hit the 2 chakra points on his shoulders closing them and rendering his arms completely useless. He smiled up at the young girl in front of him

'I am highly impressed, you have just proven what many of us have believed for quite a while, the Jyuuken style has a good number of weaknesses not related to the Byakugan after all, how else could some one several decades my junior defeat me so easily if that where not the case' he said before looking over his shoulder to the rest of the council members and receiving nods from them all he continued 'Hinata Hyuga, first daughter of clan head Haishi Hyuga, the councils decision is that you will remain the heiress to the clan until such time as you choose to relinquish it, become clan head or, which we all pray will not be the case, die before such time as you take your place as head of the clan, now if you would be so kind as to open my chakra points' he said, Hinata grinned sheepishly and she and her clone swiftly reopened the chakra points and moved away from him, he stood up and rejoined the elders and they spoke quietly before he once again turned to Haishi

'Am I correct in understanding that Hanabi has not been betrothed yet?' he asked, Haishi nodded 'Very well then, the council has made a decision, until such time as she proves her arrogance is no more the Hyuga council will consider the arrangement of her marriage and to whom she will marry, do you consent to this?' he asked, again Haishi nodded 'We have also decided that the announcement for the new purpose of the caged bird seal will be made tomorrow afternoon and we will send out the appropriate information today' he finished, again Haishi nodded and then turned to the group that had been watching

'Thank you all for coming and I hope to see you all again sooner rather than later' he said and then walked away headed back into the house Naruto then turned to the group and put a plan into motion that he'd formed and with the help of everyone except the 2 parties that it involved he hoped it would go off without a hitch, however he was about to mix it up, a lot

'So what's everyone doing tonight?' getting answers of nothing from everyone he asked the next question 'So who fancies going out to a bar?' this got odd looks from all

'Naruto you know we can't drink yet, you've got to be 18' said Sasuke, Naruto just smiled

'There's a little known by-law that states any ninja that has made their first kill can drink, only 1 bar in Konoha knows of this and it has a direct line to all the files in the Hokage tower it only gets one piece of information from them though, number of kills, any ninja that join the village from being unaffiliated or missing automatically get 1 kill, Gaara, Kankuro and Temaris files where transferred from Suna after the Chunin exams which leaves Hinata and Sasuke without kills, however I also know that they've witnessed a good number of kills and each jonin is allowed to bring 1 chunin level ninja that has no kills in with them and since both me and Gaara are jonin that means we can take in 2 people without kills' he explained

'Naruto how many kills do you actually have?' asked Gaara

'I have 115 confirmed ninja kills and 574 confirmed non-ninja kills but I'm still waiting for the rest of the scrolls I brought back from wave to be processed to get the final total' replied Naruto, the same reaction graced every face except Hinatas, even Gaaras eyes had widened in shock the rest had white eyes as wide as pint glasses and their jaws where about 3 feet below the ground.

'OK, so we'll meet outside here at 6 tonight, Utsuri, Taihei, Wahei come on I'll show you to the Namikaze compound and then show you the shopping district so you can pick up some fresh clothes' said Naruto as they all headed out of the Hyuga compound, Sasuke had offered Gaara, Kankuro and Temari to stay with him at the Uchiha compound for as long as they liked so they departed for there and Naruto, Hinata, Utsuri, Taihei and Wahei headed for the Namikaze compound.

* * *

Deep within the alleyways of Konoha, there lies a bar. It's not very well known, but some people know where it is. Having been around since the first Hokages time, it's a selective bar, allowing in only certain people. There, people could blow off steam and complain about things. They can drink until dawn, or they can eat some food. It's a social place. Parties are often held there and the bar is held in high esteem for its famous way of serving.

Whenever someone orders something, his or her order is connected to a spinning rack. The rack spins and then the chefs there make the order. And then, with amazing precision and accuracy, one of the chefs launches the food out from a hole in the wall. The food is then caught by the bartender and served to the customers.

This is the place that the group have just arrived at it's now 7.30pm and the Nindo bar is the name of the place, as it's name suggests the Nindo bar does things the ninja way and sometimes the Nindo Bar will have great parties, lasting until tomorrow morning. That was another thing that made the bar famous: when there is a party at the Nindo bar, they party hard. When there's a party at the Nindo Bar, that's when the owner takes out the good sake, fermented just long enough, and the good food and labels each of it at half the original price. And they still manage to make a profit.

Tonight the bar was in one of its quieter nights, the group entered to find Kakashi and Gai at one end of the bar, Kakashi trying to drink enough that he wouldn't be able to hear Gai while Gai droned on about how his drinking would affect his flames of youth, at the other end of the bar sat Kurenai and Anko, Kurenai still slowly drinking her first glass and Anko had apparently just finished her sixth bottle and was ordering another, throwing your sake cup or bottle at the wall was also another tradition. During the night, everyone had a limit, though most won't admit to it. So, in order for other people to know when someone ought to stop drinking, the person would throw their sake cup or bottle at a target drawn on the wall. If they hit it, they can still drink. If not, the bartender put a stamp that read 'Drunk' onto the person's hand. Then, if the person who was drunk asked for another drink, the bartender would know to not serve them. This method had been around since the times of the first Hokage just like the bar.

The bar tender knew Anko well enough to know that she wasn't even bothered by the alcohol till her fifteenth bottle, how that was the case he didn't even want to guess, the group went to a table in the corner of the room with a single padded seat in a U shape and sat down, they each looked over the menu's of what was on offer and after around 5 minutes everyone was ready to order, Naruto had planned ahead and when he walked up to he bar to place the first order he gave the bartender a number he had gotten earlier that day to open a tab that they would take the final total of the next morning and take it directly from his account.

After ordering he pointed out the table they where sitting at so the bartender would know all of those that would order and need to be put on the tab, Naruto also decided to order a large sake for Kakashi and the bar man took it over too him, Kakashi looked at the bar man with surprise on what was visible of his face

'I didn't order this' he said his voice hinting that he wasn't meaning to offend, the barman smiled

'The boy down there said to give you this and tell you that had 3 more drinks he's paying for' the barman said pointing to Naruto, Kakashi looked over to him and Naruto was standing with his elbows resting on the bar, his chin resting on the palm of his left hand and he raised his right arm and flicked his wrist sideways with his hand open, facing Kakashi, he was wearing a black shirt with long sleeves and a pocket on each breast, Kakashi then turned to Gai

'I'll be back in a moment Gai, I'm just going to see why he's here' he said and with that he walked down to Naruto as he rounded the corner of the bar he saw that Naruto was wearing a pair of black jeans with carefully concealed pockets on the thighs, most likely holding scrolls

'What can I do you for Kakashi-Sensei?' asked Naruto with a smile on his face

'You out-rank me now Naruto there's no need for the Sensei, I'm just wondering if there's any particular reason you're here tonight?' replied Kakashi

'You should never forget those that taught you, after all you're never to old to learn something new, I'm here with my fiancé, my cousins and some friends for a good night out' replied Naruto, still smiling and nodding his head in the direction of the group.

Kakashi looked over to see Hinata sitting on the far side of the table by the wall next to the empty seat for Naruto, she was wearing her red t-shirt with the skull and the crossed kunai, next to her on her left was Utsuri she wore a black sleeveless tank-top with the Uzumaki swirl in white on the front, then to her left was Sasuke in a white short-sleeved shirt with a pocket on the left breast and the Uchiha fan on the right he was sitting very close to Temari, apparently very comfortable with it, she was wearing a dark blue short-sleeved blouse and Kakashi thought he saw the Uchiha fan on her right upper arm but he couldn't tell because she was sitting almost side on to him, then there was Gaara in a crimson sleeveless shirt with a sand print to it although Kakashi suspected it was actually sand, after all what ninja would be without their primary weapon when they could hide it in plain sight, then there was Kankuro, without his make-up or cat suit, his brown hair was all over the place resembling Narutos, and his dark yellow t-shirt looked as though it may have been hiding more of Gaaras sand, Taihei was next wearing a black T-shirt with no design on the back although there may have been one on the front and finally Wahei was on the end of the table nearest him with his greyish-blue hair pointing straight up at the ceiling wearing a t-shirt of the same colour with what appeared to be the Uzumaki swirl printed in crimson on the back but he wasn't sure.

'OK, well thanks for the drinks, I better go back and join Gai before he comes over and starts giving you the same treatment, I doubt you'd forgive me' said Kakashi his visible eye forming a U shape to show he was smiling before turning and walking back to Gai.

* * *

Over the next 2 hours the 2 that drank the most where Naruto and Gaara and to look at either you'd think they'd never had a drink in their lives, both had drunk 4 bottles of sake each and still looked totally sober, both had been up to the bar to order fresh rounds and the barman had asked them to throw the bottle they had brought back at the target, Gaara had just thrown it, although he'd done it a little to fast for the barman to see, Naruto had decided to show off a little and turned around to talk to Hinata who'd come over with him while throwing the bottle over his shoulder and some how caused the bottle to not smash and instead imbed into the board with the mouth of the bottle encircling the bulls eye, needless to say the barman decided not to test them again till they hit 10 bottles each, or showed at least some signs of the alcohol affecting them.

However they where both back at the table sitting in their seats once again, it was at this point in time that Wahei decided to do something

'Right well, fun as it is with all of you, I like the look of that young lady over there and I think I'll go talk to her' he said getting up to go

'Hold on Wahei which of those to are you going to talk to?' asked Hinata

'The black haired one why?' he asked

'Kurenai-Sensei is nice, be polite and kind to her just make a point of showing no interest in Anko' she said

'Why?' he asked, curious as to why he would need to do that

'Anko is a little weird to say the least, if she thinks she's got half a chance she'll practically force herself onto you and if you show any interest in her at all the Kurenai-Sensei won't want you, she's had problems in the past where a guy showed most of his interest in her after finding Anko strange but before that he showed some interest in her and they always cheated on her, so now she goes out with Anko and any guy that shows any interest in Anko beyond just being polite she won't give a chance and I know you won't do that to her so you deserve a chance' replied Hinata Wahei nodded his thanks and then walked over to the 2 women and started talking to Kurenai.

* * *

2 hours later and Naruto was back at the bar, Kankuro had been really smart and challenged both Naruto AND Gaara to a drinking competition, needless to say he was losing badly, Naruto and Gaara had even upped their drinks from the 20percent sake to 40percent spirits and now Naruto had just ordered 65percent Vodka whilst at the bar he listened in on Waheis conversation with Kurenai

'So you know Hinata then, how is she?' asked Kurenai

'Yeah I know her, she's engaged to my cousin, she's fine, very happy with him and I'm happy for them' replied Wahei

'OOOOOHHH Ya gots ta feel the mooseek Ya know, hey, hey iz dare anyfing more to dwink?' slurred Anko, who despite her intoxication could still hit the dead centre of the bulls' eye

'Please buy her a drink and shut her up for at least 5 minutes' said Kurenai an annoyed tone to her voice, Naruto decided to make his presence known at this point

'Just put it on the tab Wahei as well as any more drinks you have tonight' he said

'Oh, Ok thanks Naruto, how are things going at the table?' he asked

'Erm, Kankuro challenged me and Gaara to a drinking competition, he's on his fourth bottle of sake and I've just ordered a bottle of Vodka each for me and Gaara, we've already drunk 6 bottles of sake and 4 bottles of spirits each'

'And you're both still sober, never mind alive, how?' asked Kurenai, Naruto smiled

'Kyuubi and Shukaku, while I don't have the damn furball in me anymore I did keep the healing ability which extends to being immune to poison and being able to neutralise any kind of intoxicating substance, in order to get drunk I think that me and Gaara would have to drink this place dry so we're just drinking till Kankuro's drunk then we'll slacken off again' he replied Wahei laughed and Kurenai giggled

'WHOOO, Dink da whole tan dry, now datza pran, hey 'Renai how many pubz ya fink we crould get inta?' asked Anko, Naruto chuckled quietly at Ankos drunken nickname for Kurenai

'Nowhere else will let you in Anko' replied Kurenai shaking her head.

When the bar keeper came back and handed Naruto the drinks he walked back over to the table chuckling quietly, he sat down and handed the bottle of sake to Kankuro and then a bottle of Vodka to Gaara, Kankuro despite his state did notice that Naruto and Gaara had different bottles to him

'Hey, what choo drinkin, I got sumvin diffwent' slurred Kankuro

'Yes you do Kankuro, you've got something stronger than us' replied Naruto smiling and giving Gaara a wink to tell him that he was in fact lying

'O-O-Ok (Hic) daatzall (Hic) good'

* * *

Come midnight Kankuro couldn't stay awake so once he was nicely out for the count Naruto created 2 clones which picked up Kankuro and carried him back to the Uchiha compound, as they pulled him from the table a trail of sand slithered off his shirt and added itself to Gaaras. After the clones left Gaara and Naruto both got sake cups to finish their vodka in rather than drinking the stuff straight from the bottle, the only other 2 to keep drinking had been Hinata and Temari, both sufficiently used to the talents of Jinchuuriki for this major binge to not bother them

'How exactly have you two managed to drink 4 times as much as everyone else on the table and not only live but look like you're still on your first drink of the night?' asked Utsuri putting her glass down, Gaara looked down, he wasn't looking forward to her reaction when she found out he was a Jinchuuriki

'Well for me it's something I kept from my time as Jinchuuriki, Gaara still carries the Shukaku within him so he has the same healing ability' explained Naruto

'Oh, ok then that explains everything' said Utsuri, her reaction caused Gaaras head to fly up, she wasn't bothered in the slightest, he allowed himself a small glimmer of hope that just maybe he had a chance with her after all

'How old are you guys?' asked Temari

'Well I'm 16, Wahei is 21 and Utsuri is 12' replied Taihei.

* * *

By around 2 in the morning they had been getting up and moving around, Gai had gone home so Kakashi had come over and joined them, Anko had passed out and Naruto had had a couple of clones take her home after getting Kurenai to get her keys from her pocket and give him directions and then Kurenai and Wahei had joined them as well at around 1 o'clock Iruka had come into the bar, had a couple of drinks with them and then left. Over the course of time, and some careful planning, Gaara and Utsuri had ended up sitting together and now Utsuri was feeling 'a little tired' and was resting her head on Gaaras shoulder.

'So who's having what?' asked Naruto getting up and looking at the group

'I'll have a double whiskey' said Kakashi raising his hand from the table a little

'Make that 2' said Gaara

'I'll have a warm sake' said Kurenai

'I'll have a Vodka on the rocks' said Wahei

'I'll have a single whiskey' said Taihei

'I'll have the same as you Naruto' said Hinata

'We'll have a bottle of sake' said Sasuke, Naruto then looked at Utsuri who hadn't ordered anything yet

'Do you want anything Utsuri?' he asked, she lifted her head off of Gaaras shoulder just far enough to shake it before putting it back down on his shoulder again. Naruto went to the bar and ordered, the barman decided it was once again time to check him and again Naruto decided to show off throwing the bottle up and spinning hitting it with a turning kick on the way down once again lodging it into the board intact with the mouth covering the bull's eye, the bar man quickly realised that it was unlikely he would ever find the boy tipsy in his life never mind to drunk to hit the target.

Naruto came back to the table a few minutes later and handed all the drinks out. Gaara sat his drink within easy arms reach and started taking sips from it every 3 to 4 minutes as he reached for it for the fourth time a smaller hand from his right side beat him to it, he followed the hand as it moved to its owners mouth and poured an amount of the strong liquid into it before returning the glass to the table

'Did you enjoy that?' he asked

'Yes and it was much nicer since it was yours Gaara' replied the owner of the hand – Utsuri

'So if you order a drink next time it will be fine for me to have some without asking you then?' he asked her, she tilted her head to look at his face

'Of course' she replied smiling warmly, Gaara couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

By the time 3 o'clock came Gaara and Utsuri where happily sharing every drink, one would order a drink twice the size of what they wanted and then both would drink from the same glass, Utsuri seemed to be rather tipsy, possibly even drunk Gaara however, just like Naruto didn't look like he'd had a drink all night, but despite that over the course of the night Utsuri had systematically broken down each and every emotional barrier Gaara had ever erected one after another.

Hinata wasn't drunk but was definitely merry, Kurenai had had more than she'd ever had before and was now very happily chatting away with Wahei, who could apparently handle his drink as despite having shifted onto Vodka was still having no problems talking although he did look a little shaky on his feet whenever he got up, Taihei was particularly drunk as was Kakashi and after Kakashi remembered the jukebox in the corner they proceeded to stand at it selecting songs and slurring out a drunken duet, although the others had to admit they were quite good, Sasuke and Temari where the only ones other than Naruto and Gaara that where definably sober having carefully paced themselves, more from having spent more time talking than drinking than through good management.

As 4 o'clock rolled round the group decided it would be a good idea if they headed home, once everyone was finished they got up and Naruto scooped Hinata up bridal style noticing this Sasuke decided to do the same with Temari, Gaara was unsure, something in him wanted to but he was really nervous about it, that is until Utsuri whispered in his ear asking him to do so and then looking at him with eyes that, he didn't know why, Gaara found it impossible to say no to, so just like Naruto and Sasuke he picked her up bridal style, Kurenai and Wahei had their arms around each other's waist as they walked towards the door and called over Taihei and Kakashi who then stumbled along with their arms over each other's shoulders.

* * *

And thus ends another chapter,

**Important note:**

Many thanks to drunkdragon for allowing me to use his jonin bar from encyclopaedia ninja

Next Chapter: Kumo; chapter 16 – Treaties for the Future


	16. Treaties for the Future

Power – Redefined

Chapter 16 – Treaties for the Future

* * *

The morning sun had long since risen when Naruto was awakened by a loud knocking at his front door, he had opted to take up his father's offer to take one of the houses in the Namikaze estate and had been sleeping comfortably in the large double bed in the master bedroom with his left arm draped over Hinata and his right arm under his head, his body was flush with Hinatas with her facing away from him.

He figured she would wake up in an hour or so, in all likely hood with a hangover, something Naruto would never experience being completely unable to become intoxicated was as much a godsend as it was a curse, he could drink anyone except Gaara under the table, twice, and not worry about a hangover the next morning.

He tried to remove his arm to find that at some point in the night Hinata had wrapped her arms around it and was now holding it very firmly next to her body but, to Narutos great relief, against her stomach as opposed to the numerous other places on her body she could of put it, he carefully recovered his arm before climbing out of the bed and realising that he was still wearing the same clothes he'd had on the night before, he brushed the thoughts aside as the knocking at the door came once again.

He trudged down the stairs, he had nothing from his flat as he had yet to return to get them, reaching the front door he opened it to see an ANBU there

'Naruto Namikaze the Hokage has giving orders for me to bring you to him' said the ANBU, their voice was distinctly feminine, but when it came to ANBU you never really could tell

'Where is he now?' asked Naruto, his voice a little horse and his eyes still only half open

'He is currently in his office, you must hurry' replied the ANBU

'Relax, I've got time for a shower and I'll still get there before you but if you want to wait and come with me then grab a seat in the front room, I should only be five minutes' said Naruto turning around and walking back up the stairs, the ANBU moved into the front room and stood at ease with their feet shoulder width apart and their hands behind their back.

* * *

Five minutes later Naruto came into the front room wearing a fresh set of clothes, he wore his forest camouflage trousers and a t-shirt with the same design

'Shall we?' he asked and the ANBU nodded and made for the door as they passed Naruto he put a hand on their shoulder and the next thing the ANBU knew he was in the Hokages office

'What's so important you had to have this ANBU wake me up ya old fart?' Naruto said, the ANBU was about to spin round and have a go at Naruto for disrespecting the Hokage till they heard the Hokage start laughing

'Not much of a morning person are you son?' said Minato between laughs

'Normally yes, today no, what time is it anyway, there isn't a clock in that damn house'

'It's 11 in the morning'

'Great, I've had the sum total of about five and a half hours sleep, so what's up?' his tone switching from a semi-sarcastic to a serious tone

'The Raikage has been assassinated and whilst it's not our policy to get involved with the politics of other shinobi villages this time it could be as the new Raikage is trying to start a war with us, however a number of their council have managed to dissuade him slightly, they have asked that we send a warrior no older than 15 to fight one of their own and since you are the strongest fighter in Konoha and my son we believe it would be in our best interests to send you, you will be accompanied by 1 other of your choice, any problems?' explain Minato, Naruto released the hold he'd had on the stunned ANBU

'Well this should be boring as sin, I think my choice will be pretty obvious, I'll take Gaara with me, after all they think I'm the furballs Jinchuuriki still and they know Gaara has Shukaku within him so if they find out Konoha has 2 Jinchuuriki in its ranks I'm quite sure they won't want a fight and you know me, I'm not going to let this be a one on one fight, that'll be too easy to stop a war you have to show them just how out matched they are' said Naruto

'Ok then, meet Ero-sennin at the front gate in 4 hours he'll guide you to Kumo' said Minato and then Naruto just disappeared

'He's your son?' asked the ANBU a little baffled

'Yup' said Minato

'That explains why he wasn't bothered about keeping you waiting' said the ANBU before saluting and disappearing in a puff of smoke

* * *

4 hours later Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, Hinata and Utsuri stood at the main gate of Konoha, Naruto and Hinata held each other tightly before separating slightly, they locked eyes before kissing passionately Naruto then turned to Sasuke

'Look after her for me, I'm counting on you' he said

'I won't let you down' Sasuke replied

While this was going on Gaara and Utsuri were also embracing, when they pulled apart Utsuri first looked into Gaaras eyes then looked away from Gaara and the other group and bit lightly on her lower lip seemingly trying to make a decision about something then without warning she turned back to Gaara and kissed him on the lips and then ran off leaving Gaara speechless and confused, Naruto had watched what happened and came over with Hinata

'She's worried that you're leaving and you won't make it back, I think she feels if she doesn't say goodbye then it'll make it easier, as far as I know she's never had anyone to care for outside her brothers before now and it seems she already feels a strong connection to you' he explained

'Very well then, I shall just have to make sure I come back completely unharmed to her and prove to her that her worries were unfounded' replied Gaara, Naruto turned to Hinata and nodded, she took off in the direction that Utsuri had gone in with Sasuke hot on her heals when he saw that she'd taken off.

'Ready?' asked Jiriaya, getting a nod from both boys he turned and headed out the gates.

* * *

'It's OK, listen, Gaara is the only person in this entire village that can go toe-to-toe with Naruto for longer than a few seconds, you saw him slaughter those missing ninja and mercs like they where nothing, he couldn't beat Gaara that easily and do you really think Naruto will let anything happen to him, he thinks of both Sasuke and Gaara as brothers, they shared similar experiences as him and something tells me even the entire of Kumo couldn't match Naruto, never mind Gaara as well' Hinata said, it had taken her nearly half an hour to finally catch up to Utsuri and now she was sitting on bench holding the hand and rubbing the back of the heavily crying girl.

Utsuri couldn't bring herself to think, it was so painful to think of Gaara going off on a mission with the possibility that he may not come back, even with Naruto there to look after him

* * *

Three days later Naruto, Gaara and Jiriaya stood around 2 miles from Kumo, they looked up the mountain at the constantly thundering clouds and the village up on the mountain

'Well boys, here's where I part ways, I'll see you back here tomorrow evening and we'll begin our trip back to Konoha' said Jiriaya before waving to them and walking off

'See ya Ero-Sennin' said Naruto and laughed when the sannin cringed at his words, then he and Gaara began the walk to the gates of Kumo.

* * *

Half an hour later they arrived at the gates of Kumo, they weren't as big or as daunting as Konohas, in fact in comparison they where rather dull, they saw a girl standing just inside, she wore a Kumo forehead protector, to hold back her long blonde hair that went to half way down her back, each cheek had 2 whisker like marks, like Naruto she had blue eyes but hers where a darker blue, more akin to the ocean's blue than Narutos sky blue, she wore black ANBU style pants and loose fitting grey shirt and grey ninja sandals

'So these are the 2 weaklings Konoha sends, you aren't going to last long' said the girl cockily, Naruto just smiled

'Tell Hekigan that Akahito is gone' Said Naruto still smiling however the look on the girls face quickly changed to one of shock before she tried to cover it up

'I have no idea who Hekigan or Akahito are or what you're talking about' she said looking away

'You cannot lie to us, I still hold Shukaku and he has absorbed Kyuubi' said Gaara monotonously, again the girl was shocked, for the first time in her life she had met others like herself and apparently they were highly trusted in Konoha for both to be sent with no-one else as an escort

'I'm guessing your treatment here has been no better than our own and the idea of sending you to greet us would be their idea of showing disdain, I'd advise against you fighting, you don't stand any more of a chance than Gaara here' said Naruto

'Why did Konoha send you, are they not scared you would just run away?' she asked still not quite sure

'Why would they be, my dad trusted me with this mission for a reason, I'm the strongest shinobi in Konoha I could lay waste to it, but instead I fight to protect it and those within it that I care for' explained Naruto

'What do you mean your dad?' asked the girl

'The Fourth Hokage of course, what's your name?' asked Naruto

'It's Yugito Nii, now come on, I got to take you to the Raikage' said the girl and with that she started walking off.

* * *

As they were walking Naruto noticed all the villagers glaring at Yugito and was none too pleased about, he decided to do something about it, he stopped

'I suggest you stop glaring at her and go about your business before I put you all in the hospital' he said loud enough for everyone around to hear when he finished speaking 3 ANBU appeared around him

'It would be advisable for you to not threaten our citizens for their reactions to the demon' said one of the ANBU, instantly he fell down, the other 2 looked at Naruto and saw his eyes, Fuengan blaring and filled with hatred, he let out a burst of chakra stronger than either of the ANBU had ever felt

'I would advise you take him to the hospital soon or he won't live and inform your citizens that I will not stand for any Jinchuuriki being referred to as the being they keep them safe from and that includes my comrade here, he is also a Jinchuuriki and could quite easily lay waste to both of you' replied Naruto, his voice filled with malice and contempt, the ANBU swiftly followed his instructions and the crowd that had gathered, hoping to at least see a fight and maybe find reason to have the demon killed, swiftly dispersed and took his words to heart, none would ever look at the girl the same way again and many would switch to being advocates for her protection from that day.

They carried on with no more glares directed at Yugito, the news of what Naruto had done and said spreading like wildfire through the village, they arrived at the large metallic structure in the centre of the village with the Kanji for cloud in middle three quarters of the way up.

* * *

As they entered the Raikages office Naruto noticed it was a little strange, seemingly designed like the clouds above, the window at the end of the room curved and from the edges of the window it seemed to be continuous rounded alcoves, the desk was a simple rectangle made of a dark wood, the Raikage sitting behind it in a high backed red leather arm chair, they approached the and Naruto stepped forward

'Get rid of the ANBU before I leave them unconscious, they can wait outside the room' he said monotonously, they Raikage looked up from his paperwork and glared at him

'Who are you?' he said

'I'm the shinobi Konoha sent for this little test' said Naruto

'Oh really and what's your name and rank?' the Raikage asked

'My name is Naruto Namikaze, son of the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, my Rank, by special order of the Fire Daimyo, is Jokyu Jonin, I am answerable to only my father and the Daimyo himself' replied Naruto, the Raikage raised a thin eyebrow at this, he was a young man, no more than 25 years old, long black hair and a relatively slim frame, his curved face was clean shaven and his onyx black eyes showed a calculating mind and a ruthlessness that showed he would use anyone or do anything to get what he wanted

'I heard what you did in our streets, what makes you think you have the right do that to our citizens' said the Raikage calmly

'That right is mine by proxy of being a former Jinchuuriki myself, I say former because I have fully absorbed the power and memories, whilst remaining the dominant personality, of the Kyuubi no Yoko that was once sealed within me, I have that right from having experienced the very same treatment myself and if by the time I am to leave tomorrow I do not feel she will be treated correctly, as a hero not a demon, then we shall take her with us when we leave for Konoha where my generation will welcome her with open arms' said Naruto sternly

'Oh, and what makes you think you have the power to do so?' asked the Raikage

'I can already sense your chakra capacity, it's not even a hundredth of my own, heck it's not even on par with Gaara here's, I could lay waste to this entire village with a single attack, I suggest you assemble your top hundred under fifteens for this little match and I will show you just how far above your people I am, in fact let's make it really interesting, at least for me, add the top 20 of your entire ninja force on to that list and we'll see just how long they last, you have 2 hours' said Naruto before turning and walking towards the door

'Are you coming with us Yugito?' he asked, she quickly bowed to the Raikage before following Naruto and Gaara at a swift pace

* * *

'Did you really mean what you said?' she asked when she thought they were a safe enough distance from the room

'Yes' replied Naruto

'Do you even know which part I'm asking about?' she asked thinking they might in different thought tracks

'It doesn't matter, I meant every word of it' he said, to say Yugito was shocked was an understatement, he was going to take on 120 shinobi at once and his threat to level the village was more of a promise, suddenly 3 ANBU appeared around her

'Leave her be or you will not live' this time it was Gaara talking

'Why should we listen to you, it's no concern of you what we do to the demon' replied the ANBU, Gaara slapped his palm against his forehead and in the same split-second his hand hit his head the ANBU hit the floor

'Anyone else want to try anything, he's already dead, I just broke his neck' said Naruto, the anger dripping from his voice, one of the 2 remaining ANBU moved to grab his Ninjato, as his hand grabbed the hilt his head rolled from his shoulders the last one grabbed Yugitos arm and tried to pull her in front of him as shield but as he pulled his arm back he found he was it was missing from the elbow down

(A/N: for those that don't know a ninjato is sword the same length as a wakazashi but where the wakazashi is curved the ninjato is straight)

'You are worse than scum, trying to use a comrade to protect yourself, I will spare you nothing' said Naruto as he looked directly into the ANBUs eyes a moment later the ANBU hit the floor, the way the blood was pooling from his arm rather than spurting showed he was dead

'W-W-What did you do to him?' asked Yugito a little scared

'I'll explain on the way, now come on' said Naruto walking away with Gaara following closely behind Yugito caught up and fell into step with Gaara on Narutos other side.

* * *

2 hours later Naruto, Gaara and Yugito stood in a room that looked exactly the same as the one that the preliminaries for the third round had been held in, Naruto stood in the centre surrounded by 100 people between the ages of 12 and 14 and a further 20 ANBU all ready to attack him

'As requested 120 shinobi have been assembled and I seriously believe you have overestimated your own abilities' said the Raikage, Naruto said nothing instead he just closed his eyes and relaxed his body

'Nothing to say?' asked the Raikage, his voice still cocky 'Very well then, begin' as soon as the last word came out of his mouth the ninja nearest Naruto fell to the floor, the next wave behind him went to move and hit the floor, again and again, wave after wave of shinobi fell, Naruto didn't even seem to have moved as the shinobi fell one after another. Within a minute every single shinobi that was set to challenge Naruto was on the floor unconscious

'I trust I've proven my power' said Naruto, the Raikage scowled at him, then he clicked his fingers, one ANBU landed behind Gaara and another behind Yugito

'Submit or I'll kill them both' said the Raikage, Naruto scowled at him, then suddenly appeared right in front of him and another appeared behind the ANBU behind Yugito

'You are unfit to lead, you sacrifice your own people for your own ends, I will serve you justice' said Naruto, then the Naruto behind the ANBU had one of his wakazashi through the head of the ANBU, the ANBU behind Gaara immediately tried to attack him only to be blocked and then consumed and crushed by a wall of sand, then in a single fluid motion Naruto drew one of his wakazashi, removed the Raikages head and spun to face away from him faster than any there could see.

The council of Kumo came out from one of the doors and one stepped forward to speak

'Thank you for ridding us of that tyrant, could you stay a few more days and take charge of the village till we can find a suitable new Kage?' he asked

'I cannot, however I'm sure that you will be able to find a suitable kage if the peace treaty I have with me is signed, and since you have no kage it will require the signatures of every member of your council' replied Naruto flicking his sword to remove the small amount of blood on it and then sheathing it

'What does the treaty entail?' asked another council member

'It entails 4 primary things, a mutual agreement of peace and aid between Konoha and Kumo, meaning if either where to be attacked the other would come to their aid, it requires a similar treaty to be arranged with Suna and signed within 3 months, a complete, unrestricted sharing of military information between Konoha and Kumo and finally a law must be passed in Kumo to protect any Jinchuuriki that states they are to be recognised as heroes, the law must carry a penalty for any that break this law of death, the exception will be made where by any Jinchuuriki that has committed a crime must have a trial with a minimum of a 10 person jury in which half are supports of the Jinchuuriki and can only be convicted with a unanimous verdict. These terms are none-negotiable there are several other terms but I have authorisation to negotiate these terms where needed, I have one more term that I myself would like to request' said Naruto

'And what might that be?' asked the first council member

'That Yugito Nii become the Kumo representative for Konoha' replied Naruto, some of the council members scoffed muttering about it be preposterous and how they couldn't let the demon leave the village Naruto raised an eyebrow

'By those mutterings I take it that Kumo does not want this treaty in the slightest as some of you are already breaking a law that must be put in place before the treaty will become valid' Naruto stated bluntly, quickly the murmurings stopped

'No the treaty is very much wanted, if you would please follow us we shall draft the law now and bring it in with immediate effect and make the announcement as soon as you have approved the law' said the first council member walking off

* * *

3 hours later the last council member signed the treaty and after a little persuasion from Naruto by saying that if they made Yugito the representative to Konoha it would give further proof that she was being treated as a hero, after all what better representative than a village hero. Yugito then spent the rest of the day showing Naruto and Gaara around the village and talking to them about how it had been for each of them growing up, after a while it was decided that Yugito had had it the worst, she had had much of the same treatment as Naruto until she hit 10, she was a year older than Naruto and Gaara and at 10 she started to mature and at that point the men realised she could be used as more than just a punch bag, the women not seeing her as human didn't care, so from the age of 10 she was raped almost daily along with the beatings, sometimes being raped by as many as 40 men 4 and 5 times each but she was thankful to Konoha and most of all Naruto because since she was the representative if anything happened now she could inform Konoha on her next visit and Kumo would have hell to pay and since the entire village had been told she was certain her troubles where over.

* * *

Later that evening Yugito and Naruto sat atop the Raikages tower, they had been chatting for around an hour about nothing in particular, mostly about what Konoha and Kumo were like when Yugito finally asked the question that she'd spent the entire time trying to find the courage to ask

'What would you say about going out with me?' she asked

'Sorry no can do, I'm already engaged to someone I love very much' replied Naruto, Yugito looked downcast

'What about Gaara?' she asked, hoping she might be able to get him, he seemed pleasant enough, if a little quiet

'I doubt it, he's quite taken with my cousin and she him, I'm quite certain that the moment we get back he'll be hooking up with her' he replied, again Yugito looked downcast

'It's really hard to find someone who sees me for me and not four-legs' she said, Naruto couldn't help but laugh 'what's so funny?' she asked thinking he was laughing at her

'Sorry, it's just I realised the only people that ever disrespect demons are the Jinchuuriki they get sealed in, I used to call Akahito the furball, you call Hekigan four-legs and Gaara usually refers to Shukaku as the ass-bandit, most people wouldn't dream of insulting the demons and yet the ones that you'd think would probably have most to fear from them, the Jinchuuriki, always insult them' he said smiling, Yugito couldn't help but smile, he made a good point.

* * *

The next morning Naruto decided he wanted to get a few gifts for Hinata and so he Yugito and Gaara started to go round the shops of Kumo, for the most part Gaara remained silent and appeared to be deep in thought since he usually had to be asked a question twice before he would answer after a couple of hours going round the shops Gaara finally decided to ask the question Naruto knew had been coming and was waiting for, in fact he'd found the answer about an hour ago but still had to wait for Gaara to ask the question

'Naruto would you help me find a suitable gift for Utsuri please?' he asked, Naruto simply smiled and started looking through the bags he already had

'I was wondering how much longer I was going to have to wait for you to ask' he said finally finding what he was looking for a pulling a small black box out of the bag his hand was in, he then passed the box to Gaara who looked at it quizzically before asking in a bemused tone

'What is this?' Naruto smiled

'Why don't you open it and have a look?' he asked, Gaara looked at it again before carefully lifting the lid of the box, within it where 2 necklaces each with a pendant of half the kanji for ichi (1 in Japanese for those that don't know)

'What does it mean?' he asked, still very confused, Naruto smiled Gaara was still very unsure when it came to things like this but it would come to him in time

'Two halves of one whole, it means you are together and the only person that can complete you is the person that has the other half of the necklace' he explained, Gaaras face seem to light up as the explanation hit home he then bowed deeply

'Thank you so much Naruto' he said

'No problem, what are friends for' he said it as a statement rather than a question and it was one of those that Gaara understood.

The trio continued shopping for another hour before getting lunch which consisted of a table full of local delicacies which Naruto insisted on paying for and it was easily established that being a Jinchuuriki or former Jinchuuriki gave you a much bigger appetite as Yugito easily ate as much as the boys.

* * *

As it grew closer to evening the three of them packed their things into scrolls and departed from Kumo, the council having decided that in order to give them time to ensure the law would be properly enforced it would be best for Yugito to make her first official visit to Konoha immediately as well as going from there to Suna to begin making the arrangements to form a treaty with them. They left Kumo a little before dusk and arrived to meet Jiriaya at dusk.

'Is that Jiriaya of the Sannin?' asked Yugito as they got close enough for her to see him

'Yep, that's Ero-Sennin, the self proclaimed super-pervert and writer of the Icha-Icha series of perverted books' replied Naruto, Yugito was shocked

'You would insult a member of the Sannin, what kind of guy are you' she said harshly

'The guys like a grandfather to me and he trained my dad and like I said he's a self proclaimed super-pervert, ask him if he's a pervert and see his reaction for yourself' replied Naruto.

* * *

5 minutes later they reached him and Naruto decided to prove the point that Jiriaya was a super-pervert

'Hey Ero-Sennin, Yugito here doesn't believe you're a pervert' said Naruto

'And she shouldn't' said Jiriaya holding his chin, Yugito smiled an 'I win' smile at Naruto before Jiriaya continued 'Because I'm not just any pervert I'm a SUPER-PERVERT' said Jiriaya striking a pose that he obliviously thought was dramatic but just caused the three kids to sweat drop, along with Yugitos jaw hitting the floor from his outright admission of the fact.

'Told ya so' said Naruto before walking past Jiriaya followed by a grumbling Yugito and Gaara, with a slight smile on his face at the other two's antics, as Gaara passed him a wind blew in front of Jiriaya bringing a tumbleweed along with it, after about a minute of just standing there Jiriaya got out of the pose and quickly caught up with them as they started they're trip back to Konoha.

* * *

End of chapter 16 on to 17

Next chapter: it's up so read it


	17. The Red Dawn

Power – Redefined

Chapter 17 – The Red Dawn

Make sure you read chapter 16, it's been replaced with a proper chapter instead of poll results and this one won't make sense if you don't read it

* * *

Over the course of the next 2 years Minato began training Naruto to be the next Hokage, Yugito spent much of her time travelling between Konoha, Suna and Kumo and overtime developed a relationship with Taihei both also made it to jonin. Wahei and Kurenai eventually got together after Asumas final mistake and settled in together a couple of months ago, Wahei also moved up the ranks and is now a special jonin. Naruto now lives in one of the houses in the Namikaze compound with Hinata who advanced to elite jonin, Taihei and Kankuro, now chunin awaiting the next jonin exam, share another house and Gaara, elite jonin and heading for being the second Jokyu jonin, and Utsuri, now jonin and trying to decide which way to go for her next promotion, live in another, Sasuke and Temari live together in the Uchiha compound both now at jonin.

On this morning Naruto and Hinata where awoken by a loud knocking on their front door, Naruto dragged himself out of bed slung on a black t-shirt and a pair of navy-blue cotton trousers and trudged downstairs to answer it and opened it to see an ANBU on the other side

'Master Naruto, the Hokage has sent me to get you, he said that it's of the utmost importance and to be there as soon as possible, battle ready' said the ANBU, Naruto was instantly alert, he knew that it would take the ANBU at least 3 minutes to cross the village to the Hokage tower even if he used the teleport to jump in stages, since the Namikaze compound was on the limits of Konoha

'Give me 2 minutes to get changed and wake Hinata, it will only take us a moment to get there' he said before turning and heading back into the house 'Go and sit in the front room while you wait' he said as he walked away motioning to the front room, the ANBU moved in and sat down on the setae, the door was in the corner on the room on its left was the front window moving round to the left was the wall that the setae was backed onto, the next wall was more like 2 pillars and a beam across the top with 2 double doors leading through to the dining area the final wall, which the door itself was on had 2 single seat arm chairs at either end and a poster of the Konoha leaf hanging from it.

* * *

2 minutes later Naruto came back down with Hinata, who'd kept her hair cut to keep it out the way, in tow, both where dressed in their steel-like clothing, Hinatas baring the image of a pearl and Narutos that of a four tailed fox, both had grown by about a foot and a half over the 2 years. Narutos skill with his wakazashi had increased tenfold and 6 months ago he'd had a set custom made each with a fox as the hilt with the head as the pommel with small red rubies for the eyes, the hilt and pommel in black then merging into the tsuba in the form of nine interwoven tails with deep crimson sheathes. Hinatas Owari had lengthened so that it still stood at the same height as she did and she had almost mastered it.

'Right let's go then' said Naruto, the ANBU walked up and Naruto placed his hand on his shoulder then grabbed Hinatas hand a in a flash of yellow they were gone.

* * *

They appeared in the Hokages office to find Gaara, Utsuri, Wahei, Kurenai, Sasuke, Temari, Taihei and Yugito waiting for him along with Jiriaya and his father, he glanced over each of them taking in their appearances, they'd all changed quite a bit over the past 2 years and many had taken to adding Narutos four-tailed fox symbol to their clothing showing them as part of his 'team'

First was Gaara on the far left, his hair, now dyed a dark brown, he wore slightly longer and was now straight and the kanji for love now on his right cheek in black surrounded by a circle, a long crimson jacket that went down to just above his ankles with the Konoha leaf emblazoned all over it in sand yellow, beneath that was a pair of black loose fitting trousers, it was fastened up so his top couldn't be seen, on top of it was a light grey vest that was only over his left shoulder that had several pockets on the left breast for scrolls and kunai, above which was the image of Narutos symbol, a four-tailed fox and a pouch on the right side above the hip to hold shuriken and other items and finally black shinobi sandals on his feet and his forehead protector around his left arm

Standing next to him on his left was Utsuri, she wore her long red hair straight and it now reached to her mid back, she wore clothing very much like Gaaras, with a long crimson jacket, but her trousers where a light blue, her sandals were light grey and the vest went over her right shoulder and was black instead of grey again with the four-tailed fox on the shoulder, on her right cheek was the symbol for sand, to those that knew them the circle around Gaaras kanji was to signify the meaning of Utsuris name, harmony and Utsuris 'sand' represented Gaara showing that they were together, her forehead protector was wrapped around her right arm

Wahei was next, his greyish blue hair cut short and spiked like Narutos, his top was a plain black sleeveless t-shirt, his loose fitting trousers were black but with the image of a single red eye on the left thigh and a four-tailed fox on his right with black bandages around the ankles, his sandals where also black and his waist was lined with black pouches containing his equipment and his forehead protector was around his forehead but twisted round to the left

Kurenai stood next to him, her outfit almost identical to her old one except completely black bar the image of a brown eye in a white five-sided star on her right breast and the addition of a black weapons pouch on each hip and the only member of the Konoha group besides Hinata not bearing the four-tailed fox somewhere on her uniform with her forehead protector around her forehead facing the front

Sasuke had kept the outfit he'd used for the chunin exams including the position of his forehead protector but now under the Uchiha fan emblazoned on his back were the four-tailed fox and the kanji for dust tornado, signifying his link to the wind mistress formerly of Suna that stood next to him

Temari now wore an outfit very similar to Sasukes own, coloured navy blue with long trousers instead of shorts, on her back was the image of a fan to those of Konoha it showed she was with the Uchiha as they had agreed that her wearing the Uchiha symbol would be too dangerous for either of them and below it was the four-tailed fox her forehead protector rested around her neck

Taihei was the last of the Konoha team and his face was now clean shaven with his hair cut back to the same length as Hinatas, he wore a grey t-shirt with the four-tailed fox on his sleeves and across the chest was a line of pockets for kunai and scrolls above which on his left shoulder was a two-tailed yellow cat, on each hip of his grey trousers were shuriken holders, the trousers themselves were held to his ankles by red bandages and green shinobi sandals adorned his feet, his forehead protector lay around his waist

The final member of the group was Yugito whose long blond hair now reached to her ass and was tied in a single ponytail, over her head was a black bandana with her Kumo forehead protector over the top and her hair coming out the gap, her outfit was almost identical to Taiheis but instead of the foxes she had two-tailed cats and were the cat sat on Taihei was an orange five-sided star

'You may leave' said Minato to the ANBU, who promptly bowed and disappeared, Minato now wore the Hokage robes, but still refused to wear the hat, instead opting for a bandana with Narutos fox on it

'Why have you assembled us Dad?' asked Naruto as the last of the smoke cleared from the ANBUs exit

'Akatsuki' was Minatos reply. Over the course of the next 3 hours Minato detailed the information that Jiriaya had given him and what he wanted them to do.

* * *

'So the plan is that we leave in 2 teams, Gaara will lead one team consisting of Utsuri, Sasuke, Temari, Taihei and Yugito and I will lead the other team of Hinata, Wahei and Kurenai, We head to this location between Fire, Wind and Water countries' Naruto said pointing to a point on the map laid out on the table in front of him with his left hand, to his left was Minato, then Jiriaya, Gaara, Utsuri, Sasuke, Temari, Taihei, Yugito, Wahei, Kurenai and finally Hinata was standing on his right, her hand firmly interwoven with his own

'Myself, Hinata, Kurenai and Wahei are the advanced team, we move in and strike first, we hit them hard before they know we're coming then Gaara will lead in the second team and they'll strike while we have them occupied, once every one is there each of us will have our own opponent, Sasuke will obviously take on Itachi since it's only fitting he deal with his brother for what he did, Gaara will take on Sasori as his sand will make it difficult for Sasoris puppets, Hinata will take on Konan as her skill with water jutsu will negate most of Konans skills, We know Kisame has one of if not the largest chakra reserve in the group and is a water user so Yugito will be most suited to combating his skills, Kurenai is to target Deidara, he'll need to be kept in close combat to minimise his chances with his explosives and our information suggests he's quite weak against genjutsu, which leaves the four potentially most dangerous members, first are Kakuzu and his partner Hidan, both potentially immortal, the aim with Kakuzu will be to take out each of his hearts as quickly as possible and then finally wear out the remaining one since in order to keep himself going the hearts are over used giving them a combat life of no more than 5 hours best suited for this task is Wahei since the Fuengan will help keep him safe and make it easier to take out the individual hearts, Hidan is completely immortal but he can only control his body as long as his head is attached to it, he's skilled in close combat but is weak in ranged combat so the best opponent for him is Temari since her wind can keep her at a distance and therefore safe, then there's Zetsu one of the most unique members of Akatsuki, we believe his weakness may be fire and since, after Sasuke, Taihei is the best fire user we have he'll take on Zetsu' said Naruto, Utsuri was confused, why was she going if she wasn't going to do anything

'Naru, why am I going if I'm not doing anything?' she asked, using the pet name she had for her cousin

'There is one other person in the group though he's not one of the main members of Akatsuki: Tobi Gimei, we aren't entirely sure but we suspect that his name may be false, all we really know about him at the minute is that he his left eye has the Sharingan' as he was explaining this Kakashi walked through the door

'Did you say he had a Sharingan left eye?' he asked a little worriedly

'Yes why?' asked Naruto, Kakashi reached up and pulled up his forehead protector

'Then I think it may be Obito, something always told me he had survived but I could never be sure, think about it Obito: Otobi but that's too obvious, take off the O and you get Tobi, I want on this mission to find out for sure, please Minato-sensei' he said franticly, Minato and Naruto looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Kakashi

'Alright Kakashi you will take on Tobi, establish if he is Obito or not and proceed according to what you find out, if he is Obito see if you can get him to return to the village, if he won't you may bring him back by force but if it's not him or you can't be sure you must kill him understood?' said Minato

'Yes Lord Hokage' replied Kakashi using Minatos title to show his understanding that this was an order and one that must be obeyed regardless of personal feelings

'So where does that leave me now?' asked Utsuri

'Backup, at first we hadn't given it any thought but I just realised that Tobi is likely not the only person waiting in the wings of Akatsuki for a ring and their chance to become a full member and I will have my hands full dealing with Pain' explained Naruto

'Very well then now that that has been decided prepare yourselves, you leave at midnight, dismissed' said Minato and with that the group left the room

* * *

Meanwhile in Rice County, in a small dark room, with walls the colour of dried mud and a single candle flickering next to the dark grey steel door in front of which stood a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it his face was covered with an orange mask that swirled in an anti-clockwise direction, there was no opening for an eye on the right side of the mask and the one that showed through the left side displayed a 3 tome Sharingan

'Ah Madara Uchiha, or should I say Obito Uchiha, to what do I owe the honour?' came a voice that didn't sound entirely human from the darkest part of the room

'So, Orochimaru, you know, not that it is important, I have an offer you may be interested in, my cousin Sasuke if you return to Akatsuki, I have reason to believe Konoha plans to launch an attack, with an extra member in our team we should be able to defeat them and once defeated you will gain Sasuke to use however you wish too, is that acceptable to you?' asked the masked man, Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows of the room and took on a thinking pose

'You certainly have an interesting offer, after all Itachis Mangekyo Sharingan is causing him to go blind and the only other way is to take both you and your old team mate Hatake out but still I have a feeling there is something you're not telling me' replied the snake sannin

'There is a possibility that Sasukes Sharingan is at a level even higher than Itachis, if my knowledge of this third stage is correct there is a possibility that it becomes attached to the mind of the user only activating for their mind, if this is the case then even your, technique, would not permit you too acquire his Sharingan at all, however it may just be that it wouldn't work if it was at that level or it may not be the case at all, at the end of the day the choice is yours' said the Uchiha

'Ah at least one of you as the brains to be honest with me, I think it will be a risk worth taking after all since the Kyuubi brat is still alive it shouldn't be a problem for him to increase the Sharingan to its fullest potential' said Orochimaru, his voice tinged with sadistic humour 'Very well then I shall assist the Akatsuki one last time and as long as I get Sasuke I shall return the ring when I leave this time'

'Thank you for your co-operation Orochimaru' said the Uchiha before turning and walking away.

* * *

Midnight in Konoha

A group of 10 shinobi slipped out of the gates and off into the night. They travelled to their destination over the course of the next 4 days, they arrived 2 hours away from the base early in the evening and set up camp to rest and prepare for the next day

'So the first group will travel in a single line, Kakashi will take point followed by Wahei, then Kurenai, Hinata and I will bring up the rear, the second group will leave 2 minutes after the first and will travel in a triangle formation with Gaara leading, then Sasuke behind to the left and Temari behind to the right, behind Temari will be Taihei with Yugito behind Sasuke and Utsuri will be in the centre, they will arrive and fan out to attack their respective targets, assuming everything goes roughly according to plan the fight should last around 20 minutes from the arrival of the advance team to the final member falling' said Naruto getting nods all round in agreement.

* * *

At 6am the next morning the group was standing around checking through gear, Naruto had his twin wakazashi strapped to his lower back and a set of plain black katana strapped over his shoulders in a X pattern, he wore his black battle clothes that bore the 4 tailed fox, Hinata was dressed in a similar fashion with Owari strapped over her left shoulder, she also wore the battle outfit but hers now bore the pearl on the back and a four tailed fox on the left breast over her heart, the rest wore their normal clothing with the exception of Gaara whose gourd had shifted to a vertical position and been moved over to one side whilst a second was added on the other side to give him a greater capacity.

After each had finalised their preparations and where ready the two teams assembled into their respective groups and formations and the first team moved off. They moved through the forest swiftly and silently heading towards the base. They arrived in front of the base at ten minutes past 8 and stopped, dawn was just beginning and as if in premonition of what was about to begin the sky was lit not in its normal hues of oranges and light reds with purple and violet but in a crimson red eerily reminiscent of the blood that would soon be spilled.

They could see a large stone rolled to the side of the door which could only mean one thing: Akatsuki knew they were coming and were ready for them, with a silent nod the group launched off the side of the cliff they were standing moving into their single line and order as they did, over the river and into the cave, the each locked onto their opponents and charged at them, the rest of Akatsuki moving aside to await their own opponents, Naruto also took note of Orochimaru hiding in the shadows at the back, he knew it would be though for her but Utsuri would have to take him on.

Narutos battle with Pain was hard, as Naruto tried to launch his first attack he had to quickly move and dodge a second Pain, he was immediately on the defensive as one Pain after another launched their attacks his only saving grace being the Fuengans' 360 degree vision allowing him to track and avoid each Pain and their attacks, he watched carefully dodging a punch, then a kick, another punch and another, then a kick, then an opening, quickly he span up a Rasengan and launched it at the largest Pain, who just absorbed it, Naruto quickly weighed this up as he went back on the defensive

"OK so that one seems able to absorb chakra, I remember reading in the report that one of them seemed able to absorb all kinds of Ninjutsu as their defence so that must be the one and it's likely that I'll either only get opportunities to attack that one or it'll get in the way of an attack launched at any of the others, he's careful too, never do they all look at me at the same time, probably to make sure I can't use Kakeme no him, clever, I know I've got at least one other trick up my sleeve, probably more if I could just get into Kyuubis memories and pull a couple from there which isn't easy in the middle of combat, got it" he thought quickly he gathered up chakra

'Rittai bushin jutsu' he said as 2 more Naruto appeared on the outside of the circle the Pains had created around him. Soon it was almost an all out brawl as the 2 new Narutos where immediately attacked but failed to disperse and then began launching they're own attacks, shortly after that the first Pain fell, as his body hit the floor the second team appeared through the open mouth of the cave.

Meanwhile Kakashi had been having his own problems fighting against Tobi, despite only having one eye just like Kakashi, Tobi was very definitely an Uchiha as while Kakashi took the first 3 minutes trying to gather the chakra needed to transform his Sharingan into Mangekyo Sharingan, whilst fighting with taijutsu and a kunai, Tobi merely waited till Kakashis eye transformed before switching his own to the Mangekyo, his also took on the same shape as Kakashis, which just added weight to Kakashis thoughts that it was Obito

'So you're definitely an Uchiha...with that taijutsu style...and if I'm right...you are in fact...Obito Uchiha' he said between strikes

'Indeed I am Kakashi... Knew I shouldn't have used the name Tobi...but it's too late to change now... so tell me...was that all you came here for or is there another reason?' replied Obito bouncing between strikes before locking kunai with Kakashi

'I want to know how you escaped...and why you are with Akatsuki?' replied Kakashi jumping back only to come in again, Obito took the opportunity to remove his mask showing the left side of his face to be horribly disfigured down the left side

'In truth I'm not entirely sure how I survived...I think it the gender challenged snake had something to do with it...and I joined Akatsuki to rid the world of the biju and the accursed Jinchuuriki that represent them' replied the Uchiha as the repeated the process

'Does that include Naruto, Gaara and Yugito?' asked Kakashi backing off as the second group arrived and began their own fights

'But off course, they are Jinchuuriki after all' replied Obito

'Think again Obito, tell how many kinds of youkai can you sense around us?' asked Kakashi

'I can sense 2 why?' replied the Uchiha Kakashi smirked

'Look around, all 3 of the people I mentioned are here yet you only sense 2 kinds of youkai, now think about who is fighting who and where you can feel the youkai from' said Kakashi the smirk still on his face

'OK then, I can sense some coming from Gaara who's fighting Sasori and some from the direction Kisame who appears to be fighting Yugito and I can't see Naruto anywhere' replied Obito

'Look over at who Pain is fighting then' said Kakashi pointing to where the remaining 5 bodies of the Akatsuki second in command were fighting, Obito looked round to see 3 Narutos going head to head with the 5 Pains

'How can he be matching him without using the Kyuubis chakra?' asked the Uchiha in awe

'Because Kyuubi no longer exists, one of Orochimarus goons nearly killed Hinata and so Naruto laid waste to them by merging with the Kyuubi but remaining the dominant personality, oh and a couple more things Minato-sensei has ordered you to return to Konoha, without harming his son, Naruto' replied Kakashi

'Minato-sensei is alive? What about Rin?' asked Obito all thoughts of the fight now gone

'Yes he's alive and has re-taken his place as the Fourth Hokage, Rins whereabouts are unknown, between your death and that of Minato-sensei she couldn't take it, she resigned as a ninja and left the village, the Third arranged for her to leave after a psychological evaluation showed that she would be unwilling to become a ninja at all never mind for another village but I'm sure if you where to return to Konoha Minato-sensei would let us search for her, hell he may even help us' said Kakashi

'And what about my face, I can't return to Konoha looking like this' said Obito, Kakashi laughed

'Ibiki Morino looks far worse than you and whilst he thought it best he continue to look that bad to scare the prisoners, since he's the head of interrogation, I'm sure Tsunade will be able to sort you out without a problem' said Kakashi, Obito seemed to become very thoughtful

'I'm going to have to think this over, go and help senseis son' said Obito carefully, again Kakashi laughed

'Not a chance I'm going near that fight, Naruto makes sensei seem like a weakling, besides it's better we keep up the appearance of fighting for now, we'll just have that sparing match we were going to have the day we left for the mission' he said, Obito smiled and they where once again locked in combat.

Hinata was fairing exceptionally well against Konan, after creating 2 clones to continually bombard her with water jutsu whilst she attacked head on and after so many years of being able to rely on her origami jutsu Konan had let her taijutsu and kunai skills slip and was now suffering for it, already sporting several minor cuts as well as one particularly nasty one across her stomach and by the time the second group arrived was almost completely drained.

Deidara was having a lot of trouble against Kurenai, her skill with genjutsu allowing her to create up to 4 mid-level illusions on top of each other without even using her hands, then she would close in and by the time he had broken the final illusion she would be in front of him and force him into hand to hand combat, by the time the second squad arrived she had already rendered one of his hands useless and was starting to trap him in stronger illusions.

Wahei was struggling quite a bit against Kakuzu he had managed to remove one of his hearts by spinning quickly and launching a kunai through it, but after his initial success Kakuzu had been careful to keep them on the move and always attack with 2 of them at once, the arrival of the second team had been enough of a distraction to allow Wahei to take out a second heart by using his signature jutsu, a powerful lightning attack which emanated from his body for about 3 feet and lasted for about a minute that would paralyse a normal human but instead it was fired directly at the water element heart having no effect on the others, one being the earth and the other being lightning but he did force the lightning to near failure by quickly grabbing it and launching it at a wall forcing Kakuzu to return it to his body, he was now in his earth defence but with the sever reduction in speed it left him wide open to jutsu which where rapidly chipping away at his defence.

'ITACHI!' shouted Sasuke as he burst into the cave and charged straight for his older brother, he landed in front of him with his 3 tome Sharingan spinning like a top and a hard glare levelled at the elder Uchiha, Itachi just stood with his eyes closed

'So Sasuke you think you can take me without using the Mangekyo Sharingan, you must be either be very confident or very over confident' he said opening his eyes and instantly trying to use Tsukuyomi on Sasuke, the world turned black but didn't change to the Uchiha compound as he had planned then he heard Sasukes voice coming from every direction

'This is the power of the Kageegan from here we could try having a battle of the minds but you could never win, I have too much to live for to lose to you, either you can return to Konoha with me quietly and face trial and punishment for the slaughter of our clan or you can try to fight and I'll drag you back by the feet unconscious so you can face trial, and you won't escape we can have a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week guard with either Mangekyo Sharingan or Fuengan and with the little chakra you'd have it would be useless to try anything, or if you really want we can fight fair and square in hand-to-hand combat and I'll beat you ass into submission, what do you say' Itachi closed his eyes a smirked

'Well I'm obviously no match for this power so I might as well take you on head to head in hand-to-hand combat' said the elder Uchiha instantly he was back in the cave staring Sasuke straight in the eyes and now he saw the difference in the new eyes, the tomes once like comas now looked like circles and where once there were three now there were four connected at the top and bottom with gold rings

'So brother' Sasukes voice was laced in sarcasm 'You really think that you can match me in hand-to-hand combat' he finished as he dropped into a stance not from the Uchihas own taijutsu style, Itachi gave no reply as he slipped into the Uchiha style taijutsu stance and in a flurry their limbs launched into blocks and attacks.

Temari swiftly headed for Hidan knowing full well the need to keep her distance and use her range as her primary weapon. As soon as she got within range she launched her first attack firing a powerful blast of wind laced with chakra blades at her opponent, the first blast immediately removed his left arm, he smiled squatted down and picking up his severed limb he placed it back on its rightful spot where it instantly healed

'This is going to be fun' he said as he ran at her intent on trying to bring the fight into close quarters, Temari had other ideas as she deftly moved backwards launching blast after blast of wind continually slowing him down either by the sheer force of the blasts or from the time he had to spend reattaching one of his limbs. As she lead the Akatsuki member on a merry dance she began formulating a plan to take him out as quickly as possible, he had apparently planned ahead as well as a thick steal collar was secured around his neck making it impossible to easily sever his head from his body.

'I'm glad you didn't keep me waiting, I hate to wait' said the squat form of Sasori as he trundled up to Gaara whose face remained expressionless

'I also understand you don't like to keep people waiting and I'm waiting for you to make the first move' replied Gaara monotonously

'My apologies' said Sasori as he quickly launch several kunai from his sleeve, Gaaras sand immediately reacted and moved up to guard its master, catching the kunai in a defensive wall before forming a hand around the handle of each kunai and launching them right back at Sasori who soon shed his cloak to reveal his body as being that of a puppet. Gaara quickly analysed the situation and formulated his plan, as he began using the majority of his sand to either launch 'test' attacks or block Sasoris attacks he started pooling a quantity of sand into a single area and trying to slow move Sasori to that area without making it seem obvious that he was, by sheer chance rather than Gaaras good management Sasori landed on the sand at the same moment enough had pooled there Gaaras command was instant and devastating

'Sand coffin' he said and in an instant the entire pool of sand beneath Sasori engulfed him and crushed him, with no time for escape and his external and internal bodies unable to withstand the immense pressure the sand put them under the puppets gave way and the tube containing his heart was crushed, ending his life instantly.

In the same length of time Naruto had managed to remove another of the bodies of Pain leaving him fighting against 4 opponents, one of his clones had been killed leaving it as 4 against 2 but 2 of Pains bodies where quickly tiring and would not last much longer. As 2 of Pains bodies launched another attack, now unable to distinguish between the original and the clone they attacked the clone and the original removed another body from the equation.

Kisame stood facing Yugito a smile plastered across his fish-like face as he looked her up and down before giving off a light chuckle

'Normally I'd be upset if I was given a woman to fight but you're a different story, Jinchuuriki of the Nibi' he said

'Glad to see you're only underestimating me because of my sex and at least taking in to account Hekigan still, that's going to be your downfall fish face' said Yugito grinning, a grin which widened when Kisames disappeared and he growled before charging at her Samehada raised and ready to swing. As he brought it down he smirked thinking he had got her full on until the over-sized and blunt sword sliced clean through her

'An Illusion?' he pondered aloud before hearing giggling behind him, he quickly swung round to see Yugito standing where he had been the back of her hand covering her mouth as she giggled

'Nope, an after image, to me someone as big and slow as you might as well be moving in slow motion' she said before disappearing. A moment later Kisame felt a hand on his chest looking down his eyes widened as he saw Yugito now standing in front of him with her arm outstretched and her hand placed on his chest over his heart 'I just love shocking people' she said giggling at her own joke as and electric current flowed down her arm, through Kisames heart and down to the ground, stopping his heart and killing him instantly. Yugito sighed as she kicked the now lifeless body of Kisame. She then picked up the Samehada and felt it pulse as it accepted her as its new master for killing its old.

Taihei had not faired quite so well, Zetsu was not as susceptible to fire as they had expected and even with the vision of the Fuengan he was struggling, he had switched to infra-red vision in the hope of seeing the tentacles that Zetsu kept launching at him from underground but it seemed that his body temperature was the same as that of the surrounding ground giving him only hints of their whereabouts as they moved through the soil when they moved through and patch of soil that was warmer or colder than they where. This dance of both opponents trying to dodge and attack the other continued for quite a while.

Utsuri stood back trying to look for an opponent to fight, in truth she'd never really enjoyed fighting and was hoping that she wouldn't have an opponent to deal with. Suddenly she felt something wrap around her arms and legs and stop her moving the she heard the snake like laughter coming from behind her, activating her Fuengan she saw Orochimaru standing behind her, his outstretched and elongated arms wrapped around her

'I wonder how quickly Naruto will surrender when he sees I have his cousin after all his body is far more worthy than that of Sasukes, all the power and knowledge of the Kyuubi and the original version of both the Sharingan and the Byakugan' said Orochimaru. As he finished Utsuri noticed Gaara looking her way, the pool of blood and pile of wood nearby all that remained of Sasori of the red sand.

Gaaras eyes burned with rage as he saw the way the paedophilic homosexual Sannin was holding his beloved Utsuri, the one to bring Harmony to his previously turbulent life. The rage burned at him but over riding that was his love for her, she was in danger and he was not going to leave her like that.

In a flash Gaara was between Orochimaru and Utsuri, Orochimarus now cut arms fell from Utsuri to the floor and back down to Orochimarus sides, chakra and sand swirled around Gaara as he stared straight at Orochimaru

"Oh shit another berserk Jinchuuriki" thought Orochimaru as he turned to run only to find his path blocked by a wall of sand, he then tried to sink into the ground but as the ground reached his knees he found he could go no further, he turned back to Gaara as the sand closed behind him and above their heads, then Gaara spoke his voice was not its normal monotone but instead it sounded almost encased in hatred, no bloodlust or madness just hatred as it reverberated off the sand walls around them

'You will never hurt anyone else again' Orochimaru got a short glimpse of Gaara as the sand melded around him before it sealed up and closed in around him, forcing him up out of the ground and pushing down on him from above. From the outside the sand shrank into a smaller and smaller sphere before blood poured out of the bottom of it as it suddenly constricted completely around the snake Sannin before Gaara turned to Utsuri, smiled and then fell limply into her arms, mentally exhausted.

Naruto was still struggling against the remaining 2 bodies, he'd quickly dealt with the body that was failing but at the same time the other 2 had removed his remaining clone. It was not an easy fight for the blonde, the 2 bodies seemed to have almost as much chakra and energy as they did when they started he was glad that he'd managed to take out the ninjutsu absorbing body as that was now making his life a lot easier.

Wahei was starting to gain ground Kakuzus defence was almost completely destroyed and he was down to his last heart. Wahei had managed to take out a second heart which forced Kakuzu to re-launch the failing heart, not that it lasted long and with only one left trying to attack effectively with his defence slowing him down so much and it didn't take long for Wahei to destroy the last mobile heart before starting to use fire jutsu to heat the earth defence to the point of being completely solid and then quickly following it up with water jutsu to cool it off and cause it to become brittle and start to crack and break, then he started launching chakra enhanced punches and kicks to finish breaking the earth defence.

Sasuke and Itachi appeared to be evenly matched at a glance but with a closer look it was apparent that the younger brother was barely warmed up while the elder was starting to feel the effects of fatigue, Itachi remained stationary waiting for Sasuke to make the next move but when he did it surprised him greatly, Sasuke swiftly lifted his hand to his mouth and inhaled before letting out a stream of black fire, Itachi quickly went through the hand seals and exhaled his own Amaterasu to match Sasukes.

The 2 streams of black flames battled for supremacy before Itachi had to quickly jump away as Sasukes overpowered his own and came at him, he almost managed to move completely clear but the side of the flames scorched his right arm and burned it clean off

'As I said before Itachi, you are no match for me and now without an arm you're at your limit, your chakra is low, you're suffering from exhaustion and now blood loss, I've only just reached half me chakra and I've hardly expended any energy and even if by some chance you managed to win you'll never make it out, most of my comrades are winning, some have already won and those that are struggling will soon have aid, even your mighty leader Pain is falling he only has 2 of his 6 bodies left and Naruto has plenty of energy left, more than all 6 Pains had to begin with, just give up' said Sasuke, Itachi quickly thought over his options and glanced around the room, as Sasuke had said many where dead or losing fast, Kisame, Sasori and Orochimaru had already died, Konan, Kakuzu and Pain were losing badly, Obito seemed to be about even with Kakashi, in fact the only one that looked like they might win was Zetsu.

Zetsu was in fact beating Taihei badly, his larger frame was slower than Zetsus and with the difficulty he was having in seeing the tentacles coming at him he had taken several nasty injuries including a relatively deep cut that ran from just below his left shoulder to just above the bottom of his ribs on his right. As he quickly jumped back to avoid the tentacle coming straight at him another rose up behind him and wrapped itself around his neck. As it slowly began to choke the life from him 2 more shot at him as he went for kunai to try and cut himself free, they wrapped around his arms and pulling them apart they dislocated them.

At the same time Taiheis arms where dislocated Yugito turned to see him and watching him struggle to breathe caused her to see red. In an instant Yugito was standing behind Zetsu and with an electricity charged punch she sent him through the Uchiha brothers battle and straight into a wall, both Sasuke and Itachi stopped and looked in the direction that Zetsu had flown then as they turned back their Sharingan caught sight of Yugito moving at speeds neither could match straight for Zetsu, they looked at each other, Itachi with a questioning look in his eyes, Sasuke just shrugged in reply.

When Yugito landed in front of Zetsus stunned form a split-second later she started pounding away at it with electrified fists, each hitting leaving him temporarily paralysed but the next landing before it could wear off after a minute it hardly looked like any damage had been done to Zetsu so Yugito trebled the speed and current in her strikes and within the next minute all that was left of Zetsu was a chard corpse with a hole in the centre where she had punch through him. Taihei had recovered and moved round the Uchihas to kneeling form of Yugito, when she heard him approach she looked round and smiled warmly to him, as he knelt down beside her she spoke

'I'm glad you're OK, when I thought I was going to lose you I just lost it' her voice was horse but gentle none the less

'You'll never lose me' he replied kissing her forehead, she then turned round and helped him put his shoulders back in their sockets before looking him in the eyes, sighing and then leaning on his chest and passing out, Taihei just scooped her up bridal style and carried her across to where Utsuri was sitting cradling Gaara.

Temari had finally managed to start bringing her plan into effect, she blasted Hidans right arm with a double blast of wind, the first, bladed, cut his arm clean off and the second sent the arm 5 metres behind him, then as he turned to go and collect it she sent another 2 blasts to the same spot which was now filled with his left arm as he turned to glare at her she adjusted her aim and when he again headed for his arms she cut off both his legs and sent them to join the arms, the wind also held him of the ground for about a second after his legs hand departed his company before he fell to the floor. As he tried to roll to his limbs, without much success, Temari walked up holding her now closed fan in her right hand as he rolled onto his back he saw her standing over the top of him

'What do you want now bitch, it's not like you can kill me' he said glaring at her, Temari smirked an amused look on her face as she examined the helpless Hidan laying below her

'Oh I think there may be actually' she said raising her closed fan above her head before grabbing it with her left hand as well, as soon as he saw her raise her left arm to the fan Hidans eyes widened in horror, in a single swift motion Temari brought the club-like closed fan down on top of the helpless mans head, leaving a red and grey mess where his head had once been, not satisfied with leaving it at that Temari once again lifted her fan up, this time opening it and sending the largest blast of wind yet at what remained of the head, aimed right at the opening of the cave, the wind lifted up the pieces and took them out of the cave where the wind out side took the and scattered them, with the help of some birds and animals, across the globe.

Itachi had not yet stated his decision, although watching Zetsu fly past with Yugito in hot pursuit had certainly help sway his decision, more so after he looked around to see that Zetsu was also dead and Kakuzu was down to his last heart, he could also see that one of Pains bodies was fast failing and Konan wasn't going to dry quick enough to survive Hinatas onslaught, particularly with her 2 clones using more and more water jutsu, Deidara initially appeared to be on par with Kurenai, until Itachi noticed that he was in fact trapped in several layers of genjutsu and struggling to escape them

'Very well you win, I can't beat you and even if I could I would be no match for your comrades in my state' said Itachi dropping his head in defeat

'Smart move, but tell me one thing, I know that the clan suspected you of killing Shisui but they had no proof and since you already had the Mangekyo Sharingan why the need to kill them all?' asked Sasuke

'In truth there are 2 reasons for that, the first is that I would have no chance to take your eyes, which would be needed to prevent me from going blind but the second was more the reason than your eyes, I had a feeling I may be able to find another way to save my eyesight after I heard how Kakashi acquired his Sharingan eye but the clan had grown arrogant and whilst pleasant to any with the name Uchiha once they spoke to someone outside of the clan they where as arrogant and unpleasant as the Hyuga, I suppose Hinata is very much the Hyuga version of Obito, kind, caring and pleasant to all regardless of who they are and Naruto, I understand you think of him as a brother, which is good with the Kyuubi within him it gave you an increased bench mark to aim for, someone who whilst pretty useless at paperwork was a highly skilled shinobi and could disappear even while wearing orange but his greatest skill was his ability to change people, you would always be chasing after him to grow stronger and avenge the clan but he stopped you becoming consumed by rage, I realised to late that it was my mistake to have you become so filled with rage' replied Itachi his voice switching from its usual monotone at the start to a slightly happier tone at the end. Sasuke then walked up and placed chakra absorbing cuffs around Itachis ankles before turning and looking round the room only Pain, Konan Kakuzu and Deidara where yet to fall but that would soon change.

Hinata had been wearing Konan down to the point she was at now, covered in cuts, running low on chakra and energy in fact she was now on one knee feeling the effects of exhaustion, chakra and exhaustion and blood loss, none of her cuts had even begun to heal because of the water that was continuously being poured over her by Hinatas clones to prevent her using her jutsus. Slowly Hinata walked up to the kneeling form of Konan and in a single swift motion removed Owari from her back and sliced Konans head from her shoulders.

The next to fall was one if Pains bodies, Naruto deftly pulling out one of his wakazashi and eliminating the body in the same manner as Hinata had taken care of Konan, by removing his head form his torso, the remaining Pain quickly pulled out a kunai and started to parry and block the onslaught of strikes that followed.

Kakuzu was nearly beaten and he knew it, he also knew there was no point in trying to seek refuge in Konoha, the fact that almost the entire team was comprised of Konoha forces told him that even if they let him live they would hand him over to his home village so that they could punish him and collect the extra bounty for capturing him alive, he decided to go down fighting, if they wanted the bounty on his head they where going to have to work for it. He launched him self at Wahei quickly pulling out a kunai he sliced for Waheis throat only to watch as the blade passed straight through and the image dispelled, he quickly spun to look for his opponent only to feel a blade pierce his remaining heart as he completed the turn.

Kakuzu dropped the kunai and raised his hands to the blade in his chest as he sank to his knees. As his knees hit the floor he finished pulling the blade from his chest and dropped it to the floor, his body felt weak, his vision started to cloud as he felt his life slipping away from him, the little blood he hand in his body started to pool on the floor beneath him before he collapsed onto his stomach, his breathing came in short shallow gasps and his vision finally darkened as he slipped first into unconsciousness and then finally died.

Deidara and Kurenais fight was taking longer than expected, the genjutsu mistress was still having trouble keeping the explosives user in her illusions long enough to deal a decent amount of damage before he broke free of them and moved away again, she would quickly cover the distance to prevent him using his explosives before again trapping him in a genjutsu then as she went to attack he would break it and she would only manage a surface cut as he dodged the attack, finally she made a decision, as he moved away she went through a series of seals as he put his hand in and grabbed some clay.

As the clay was nearly ready he smirked and looked at her, his final mistake as she finished the seals and trapped him in the most powerful genjutsu in her arsenal, he froze, unable to move, seeing his own death again and again in more than 100 different methods, then the illusion broke, an immense pain in his throat bringing him out of it, he struggled to breath, bringing his remaining good hand to his throat he felt the gash that allowing his blood to spill out onto the floor and causing him to inhale his own blood instead of air.

Finally he fell forward a combination of lack of oxygen and blood loss causing his mind and body to fail, he hit the floor a lifeless corpse, a moment later Kurenai slumped to the floor exhausted, the last illusion had taken most of her remaining chakra reserves but it had also given her the time she needed to take out the blonde bomb maker.

Naruto swung for Pain, his blade extended and held away from his arm, Pain brought up his kunai to block and looked his opponent directly in the eyes, his final mistake in a fight he may have had still had a chance of winning, as their eyes locked Naruto used a Sharingan ability and paralysed him as he quickly unsheathed his second wakazashi and brought it across Pains neck, slicing straight through, Pains eyes went wide and slowly his head rolled forwards and fell to the floor a moment later, no longer receiving signals from his brain his body slumped down on top of his severed head.

Naruto then backed away to where the rest of the group had gathered, Itachi stood next to Sasuke, his wound had been seared shut to prevent blood loss and infection, Utsuri was fine having not really done anything, Hinata and Sasuke looked the least drained, he noticed that both Yugito and Gaara where unconscious and as he thought back to the time when he had absorbed the Kyuubi he realised that it was only his own immense stamina that stopped him from collapsing afterwards, Kurenai was barely conscious and Wahei was only slightly better off, Temari was drained but still capable of looking after herself to a lesser or greater extent.

'Well Kakashi it seems that they have beaten Akatsuki and I think it would be wise for me to return to Konoha and we can look for Rin together' said Obito as he dropped out of his stance and put his Kunai away, he then fully deactivated his Sharingan and walked over to Kakashi

'As I knew they would and I think you'll notice that the other 2 absorbed their prisoners during all this as well' replied Kakashi repeating Obitos actions

'Indeed I did Kakashi, now then shall we join them' said Obito, it was a statement rather than a question. Both then walked over to the group and slumped down in front of them

'Take it you're both exhausted then' said Naruto receiving a nod from each in reply.

* * *

And here I will end it, more to come,

Next Chapter: the return to Konoha, unexpected events: Chapter 18 - Surprises, Surprises


	18. Surprises, Surprises

Power – Redefined

Chapter 18 – Surprises, Surprises

My apologies for the delay in the update but I have been writing ahead to try and make sure all the final chapters tie up properly. As of this update this I'm proof reading the remaining chapters in preparation for the final 2 and the Epilogue.

* * *

For the next 3 hours the group just sat and rested, even Naruto despite having more chakra left than any of the others had begun with. They sat and talked, learning more from Itachi about his reasons for killing the clan and from Obito about his reasons for not returning to Konoha after he escaped the rock slide that should've killed him. During this time Naruto also created several clones to go about and collect the heads from the remains of the Akatsuki members.

'Well then shall we go?' asked Naruto standing up and offering his hand to Hinata, slowly the rest of the group roused and raised themselves from the floor and made their way out of the cave, across the river and began to make their way back to Konoha.

The trip to Konoha was long and arduous taking nearly 2 weeks not so much due to the physical exhaustion of the as more from the mental exhaustion, many of the revelations from Itachi and Obito had answered questions but also raised many more in the minds of Sasuke and Kakashi. Sasuke had given a lot of thought to Itachis reasons for killing the clan, as well as sparring him and the more he thought about it the more it seemed that Itachi now held regrets about killing the clan only in regards to the punishment that was to accompany it, but Sasuke was also giving thought to letting Ibiki loose on his elder sibling, which would certainly get the truth, despite the mental damage that it may do to let the sadist known as the Head of Interrogation 'demonstrate' some of the finer points of his work for Itachi.

Kakashi had his own dilemmas to deal with, Obitos survival seemed to come at the price of his minds stability, he now seemed to be split into essentially 3 parts, the first was that of a young boy, goofy, carefree and always interested in being 'a good boy' regardless of what that seemed to entail, he would select a person in the group at random when in this state and would do whatever they commanded whether it was to squash a bug, jump off a cliff or kill someone as long as they praised him for doing it, this personality also seemed to forget almost everything from its last time as the surface personality and would start almost completely fresh with only certain pieces of information remaining.

The second was far more serious and completely autonomous but it also recalled everything from its previous time at the surface which meant it wasn't going to make any attempts at escape, although it was quiet apparent it was a somewhat darker personality apparently taking from Obitos shinobi side and where the carefree side was his natural want to do good this was his shinobi side, suspecting everyone of being an enemy and willing to kill at a moment's notice to ensure his safety and whatever the 'mission' he thought himself on was.

The final side was the balance in the middle, what was left of the complete Obito which had until recently it seemed, retreated into his own mind to preserve itself but with Kakashis realisation it had once again come to the forefront but was now switching with the other 2 personalities at random intervals, sometimes it was there for whole days, others it would be there for only a few minutes if even at all.

It was Kakashis firm hope that Inoichi would be able to help Obito piece his tattered mind back together and as soon as it was done they would be able to go and look for Rin, he also hoped that Minato would be able to assist them in finding her personally rather than it just being himself and Obito.

Yugito and Gaara were also struggling to hold themselves together, they were trying to adapt to the knowledge that kept jumping to the forefronts of their minds that they had gained when absorbing their prisoners, Narutos illogical thinking pattern hand been his saviour as thoughts had always just appeared in his head so he'd learned to just file them away for when he needed them but it wasn't so easy for the quick, but straight line thinking Yugito and Gaara who was used to having a second mind screaming at him but also helping him deal with his thoughts effectively, in fact after Minato had applied a certain seal over his previous one Shukaku had been more of a help than a hindrance, much like Kyuubi had been to Naruto in the short time before Naruto absorbed him to save Hinata.

* * *

At around 10 o'clock in the morning 17 days after their initial departure from Konoha the group of now 12 shinobi arrived at the gates of Konoha, the guards summoned an ANBU escort and the group made their way through the streets, glares came from all sides, not directed at the 3 now former Jinchuuriki but at Itachi as well as many curious looks directed at the masked form of Obito, as they did not know who the group had brought with them, or why they had.

After a 20 minute walk through the streets they finally arrived at the Hokage tower and where swiftly ushered up the stairs and into the Hokages office. Minato sat behind the desk with 3 shadow clones feverishly working away at a large pile of paperwork, although after a quick glance at the 'out' tray on his desk it was apparent that he was in fact in the last third of the work that had likely arrived on his desk an hour ago looking up he noticed the large group in front of him. He stood up and moved round the desk before addressing the group

'Well now, it's quite apparent that the mission was a success with everyone returning alive, I also note that Itachi has been brought back alive for trial and I'm guessing that you are in fact Obito' he said as he looked over the group.

Obito looked at Kakashi and a silent exchange passed between the 2 telling Kakashi that it was the true persona of Obito currently present so he stepped forward to inform their sensei of the decision that the 2 had come to on the trip back

'Minato-sensei, after several days of observing Obito on our return trip I've established that his survival came at a mental price and his mind is currently' he paused to find the best way to describe it 'somewhat fragmented, as such I discussed it with him on the trip whenever I could, he has split into 3 separate personalities and would like the help of Inoichi Yamanaka to try and piece his mind back together into a single personality, or at least give him more control as to when the other 2 surface, he would also like Tsunade to try and fix the damage to his face that the slide caused' he explained.

Minato contemplated the words of his student very carefully before he gave an answer, very carefully

'Very well I shall make the arrangements, but be warned Obito, despite my wish to return you to the folds of Konoha without delay after physical treatment, which I will happily make the arrangements for, until it can be determined whether you will be a risk to any team you are placed in you will not be permitted to rejoin the shinobi ranks, further more until it can be ascertained that you are not a threat at all you will be continually guarded but understand that this is also for your own protection as many may consider you a traitor and attempt to at least to provoke you into attacking them if not outright attack you' said the Hokage, a stern tone in his voice

'Thank you, Lord Hokage, for your help, I understand, I will let Kakashi fill you and Inoichi in on the variations in the other personas as I don't really know much beyond their existence, until I feel that I can once again be a part of Konoha I will not refer to you by the title I once did' said Obito, Minato nodded his understanding before turning to Naruto

'So how many heads did you collect from them?' he asked

'All 5 of Pains bodies, my kills, Konan, Hinatas kill, Kisame and Zetsu are Yugitos, Sasori is Gaaras, he also killed Orochimaru but all that was left of him was a pool of blood, Hidan goes to Temari, Kakuzu to Wahei and finally Deidara is Kurenais' said Naruto handing him the scroll

'Good, good, now anything else I need to know?' asked the elder Namikaze

'Actually yes, I want Ibiki to 'talk' with Itachi, he's given several motives on his trip back to Konoha for the massacre of the clan and I wish to know if they are true before he goes to trial' said Sasuke, Minato merely nodded to this Naruto spoke next

'Last thing is that Gaara and Yugito are no longer Jinchuuriki although it seems for now at least Gaara is still an insomniac' he explained

'Very well then, I will make the arrangements to notify Suna and Kumo as soon as possible. Now then the arrangements have been made and you all have a week off to recuperate, after all you've just managed a feat that no other village could do as well as aiding Konohas relations by removing a number of other countries top missing ninjas. ANBU' said Minato a moment later 4 ANBU appeared in the room

'2 of you take Obito to Tsunade and have her begin work on restructuring his face then one of you inform Inoichi Yamanaka that I wish to speak to him, the other 2 take Itachi to Ibiki and inform him that he is to ascertain his true motives for the massacre by any means necessary as long as he leaves him alive and able to speak' the ANBU nodded and then escorted the 2 shinobi away to their separate destinations

'As for the you all, enjoy your rest dismissed' he said and Kakashi, Wahei, Kurenai, Taihei and Yugito trudged out of the office leaving Naruto, Hinata, Gaara, Utsuri, Sasuke and Temari

'Dad, me Gaara and Sasuke have been doing some thinking and some talking on the way back and we've established 2 things, firstly something needs to be done about Oto and we may need to offer sanctuary to a large number of its ninja force as well as permit some' he paused to make sure he phrased it correctly 'less than pleasant experiments to allow many of those that have been altered to be returned to normal' Minato mulled over his words for a while

'I'm not sure what I'll be able to do in regards to that but I'll see what I can do, what's the other thing?' he asked

'We've decided we'd like to take on genin teams' replied Naruto

'OK and what about you three ladies? Do you want teams too?' asked Minato

'No we don't think we have enough experience to be able to take teams yet, Naruto and Gaara both have the knowledge and experience of bijuu giving them more experience than most of the village combined but even without that their experiences growing up, which are shared to a greater or lesser extent with Sasuke allow them to be able to do so, as well as their experience in battle far outweighs anything the rest of us have experienced' explained Hinata

'Very well then, the next group will graduate from the academy in 3 months so I will make the arrangements for each of you to get a team, Gaara I would advise you speak with Kakashi and Gai to get an idea of the type of test you need to perform to allow them to pass, if they pass your test it's then up to you to choose how you wish to train them' said Minato

'Thanks Dad, how about dinner tomorrow night?' asked Naruto

'Sure, I'll see you then' replied Minato and with that Naruto and Hinata vanished in a flash of yellow, Gaara and Utsuri vanished in a swirl of sand and Sasuke and Temari just walked out the door closing it behind them.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata appeared outside Ichirakus and walked in taking seats on the far right of the stall with Hinata next to the wall and Naruto on her left

'Hey old man, anything new?' asked Naruto with a broad smile, Hinata loved seeing that smile of his, it was both genuine and full of life, whenever she looked at it, it made her feel happy, like nothing could be wrong with the world

'Ah Naruto, so good to see you again, as a matter of fact I do, I came up with a new one a few days ago but I've been waiting for you or your Akimichi friend to come for you to try it for me, the first bowl is on the house, and for you Miss Hyuga?' said Teuchi

'Erm, I'll have a bowl of chicken with a side of naruto please' said Hinata, both Naruto and Teuchi smirked at the double meaning that could be taken from the order, Hinata looked at their smirks and very quickly put 2 and 2 together before blushing and ducking her head down, Teuchi decided not to further embarrass the girl, thinking it best to leave that for her fiancé

'Coming right up' he said and then turned round and began to prepare the 2 dishes, Naruto then leaned over to Hinata putting his mouth beside her ear so that she could feel his breath, she shivered slightly as she felt it

'Y'know, you can have a side order of me any time you want, all you have to do is ask' said Naruto, his voice serious and in such a low whisper that Hinata could only just hear it above his breathing, Hinatas blush intensified between hearing his words and the feeling that his breathing was causing, it was shortly followed by a nose bleed as her mind betrayed her with images of some of the things she could do with him.

By the time she had managed to reign her wayward mind back in the ramen had arrived, Naruto had been his usual self and after he'd eaten the first bowl and told Teuchi what he thought of it, he'd learned a lot from Choji about the best way to taste new ramen over the 2 year span and now Teuchi only allowed the 2 biggest customers he had to try new recipes. Naruto was currently ploughing his way through his 5 bowl as Hinata grabbed a tissue and wiped her nose, then picked up a set of chopsticks, snapped them apart and began eating, it was at this point that Shino and Kiba walked in

'Hey Teuchi a bowl of pork and beef and a bowl of vegetable please' called out Kiba as he sat down on the centre stool and Shino sat down on his right next to Naruto

'Hello Naruto, Hinata' said the stoic boy his tone a carried a little happiness in it but it was only barely noticeable, over the last 2 years Naruto had spent quite a while around the members of Hinatas old team and slowly but surely Shino had learned how to open up enough that the group could tell how he was feeling by slight differences in his voice

'Hey Naruto, Hinata, how'd the mish' go?' asked the ever boisterous Kiba, it was widely considered that second to Naruto, Kiba was the most hyperactive and act first, ask questions later ninja in Konoha, which was generally why he and Shino, both chunin usually ended up as a team, the analytical mind of the Aburame the perfect balance to the almost beast like mind of the Inuzuka, both, highly reliant on their instincts, had trained their instincts to rely on each other, Kibas telling him when he should listen to Shino and Shinos in turn telling him when to just let Kiba react to the circumstances at hand. Naruto slowly nodded his head, having paused his attack on the ramen to talk to the 2

'The Akatsuki are no more, all except Itachi and Tobi are dead, Tobi, now confirmed as Obito Uchiha, is getting medical attention for both facial reconstruction and mental rehabilitation and Itachi is having a few visits with the sadist we know as the Head of Interrogation before his trial to establish his true motives regarding the massacre and his involvement with Akatsuki' replied the blond shinobi

'Cool, so what's the story with you now, you got another mish' lined up or what?' asked Kiba before breaking the set of chopsticks and beginning to eat, Shino having already began and was listening intently to the conversation

'We have a week of down time and then in 3 months myself, Gaara and Sasuke will take on genin teams' replied the blond between eating his ramen

'You're taking on teams? That will be a good team if you pass them Naruto' said Shino, the admiration in his voice apparent for those that knew what to listen for

'I hope so, I also hope I get a decent team' replied Naruto

'So what test are you going to give them?' asked Kiba

'I'm not sure yet, but I know I'm not going to use the bell test Kakashi-sensei did, it was a good test, just a little too complicated for most genin to easily grasp the concept of' replied Naruto, as he finished an ANBU appeared beside him, startling Kiba and getting a raised eyebrow from Shino, Naruto and Hinata had gotten used to it by now so didn't even look up from their meals

'Master Naruto, Lord Hokage has requested your presence, he said to tell you he has a mission you may find interesting' said the ANBU monotonously, Naruto raised an eyebrow and glanced at Hinata, who just shrugged

'Alright, tell the old coot I'll be there when I've finished lunch' replied Naruto, he sensed the ANBU going for his blade and instantly appeared behind him in a flash of yellow

'Y'know ya really shouldn't've tried to attack the Hokages son for doing what any son has a right to do, particularly when his son is the strongest ninja in the village by a long way' said Kiba in a bored tone as he turned back to his meal

'Relay the message exactly ANBU or I'll have you on treason charges for attempting to attack a fellow Konoha shinobi' said Naruto sternly, the ANBU swiftly spun, took a step back and bowed before vanishing again. Naruto sat down and carried on with his meal.

* * *

The ANBU appeared in the Hokages office and quoted Naruto, expecting to be ordered to take him to Ibiki or bring him straight to the Hokage, what happened shocked him, Minato burst out laughing before asking the ANBU why he'd taken a step back, the ANBU quickly explained what he'd expected, Minato then asked him what had happened that would have made him quote Naruto exactly if he expected that reaction and again burst out laughing before telling the ANBU that he should consider himself lucky Naruto went easy on him and had a kind heart or he could have quite easily been dead, to say the ANBU had been shocked was a understatement, Minato quickly dismissed the ANBU and was sure he'd never seen one leave his office quite so fast before.

* * *

Naruto finished his meal and sat talking with Kiba, Shino and Hinata while they finished their meals, once done Hinata left with Kiba and Shino for training and to catch up while Naruto went to the Hokage tower. He walked in waving to the secretary as he passed, she was new, he could tell because she instantly tried to stop him entering

'You have to have an appointment to go in, the Hokage is busy right now' she said quickly getting up to try and get in Narutos way

'Relax, he's expecting me and even if he's busy it's nothing I won't know or learn about' he said opening the door and walking in.

'What's so important you had to drag me away from the down time you just gave me you old coot?' his tone was jovial but carried an undercurrent of annoyance, Minato turned his attention from the high backed chair in front of him to Naruto

'I'll get to that in a moment Naruto, first though I'd like you to meet the new fire Daimyo, he's come to talk about my request for extra funding to make improvements to the academy, he'd like to know exactly what improvements need to be made, can you think of any off hand, the group I assigned the task is still going through it?' asked Minato as the young man sitting on the chair stood up and turned to Naruto, his brown eyes hardened and narrowed at the blond before him

He stood at around 5'8" with quite a thin frame covered by the Daimyos robes, his face almost looked as though he hadn't eaten in weeks his cheek bones where so prominent on his pale white face, a sharp nose sat in the centre above his thin lips and his eyebrows and forehead were covered by his locks of black hair that sat neatly over it, flowing down to his mid neck at the back

'Who are you to insult your Hokage so?' demanded the Daimyo, Naruto smirked

'Quite the attempt at driving fear into some one, just a tip though, don't bother with any ninja above chunin, they've faced far worse than you and as for who I am, I am Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, son of Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage of Konoha, former Jinchuuriki to the Kyuubi no Yoko and wielder of the Fuengan and Yellow flash Kekkei Genkais' said Naruto, his smirk widening as he watched the face of the man before him go from slight anger to severe anger, to realisation to awe and finally to embarrassment

'My apologies, I didn't realise that you're the infamous Lightning Leaf that succeeded in acquiring the peace treaty with Kumo as well as the reason so many other nations fear our own, I also understand you where the leader of the team that took out Akatsuki and Orochimaru' said the man sheepishly

'Not a problem, now in regards to your question Dad, the biggest problem is the level of skill that the students are coming out with, let's forget about the 3 basic jutsu and what could be done with them for now and look at the chakra and taijutsu areas first. In terms of chakra the biggest problems are either control, or lack thereof, or chakra supplies, take myself and Sakura as examples, I had a huge chakra store even if you ignore Kyuubi and so my control was almost none existent, Sakura on the other hand had excellent control but her limit was shown when we did the tree climbing exercise, it took me and Sasuke several hours to get to the top and we still had enough energy to get back down, Sakura on the other hand got to the first branch on her first try, but then had to wait to regain enough chakra to get back down' he explained

'Next is the taijutsu aspect, let's use Sasuke as an example here, trained by his clan he had well above the basic academy taijutsu but when compared to most genin after 2 or 3 c-ranked mission he was terrible at using it in combat, then let's look at Kiba, his style was also taught to him by his clan, it left him in the lower end of the class for taijutsu skill but in full combat was far more effective, relying less on a set series of attacks and more on taking any opportunity given with anything available' he continued

'On the physical aspect of things the last is endurance, I had a lot to begin with but only around the same as Kakashi, now when you take into account the amount of chakra I wasted with poor control and then look at Sasuke and Kiba, the next 2 highest in my class for endurance you find that they really didn't have enough, as well as lacking physical strength after a 2 minute spar they were exhausted and they both came from clans'

'In terms of paperwork we did far too much, from 9 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon 5 days a week at the academy and of that time only one afternoon was spent in physical training and if it was raining then we didn't do taijutsu, shuriken or kunai training, not a good thing, further more the things we studied where pretty useless, whether for civilian life or shinobi life, we really don't need to know that much about history, a class needs to be sorted out quicker as to those that have the potential to be shinobi and those that don't, then lengthen the hours that the shinobi are trained for and reduce the amount of time spent in the class room'

'The final aspect is the jutsu, now yes Kawarimi and bushin are good techniques and even jonin, ANBU and hunters will use henge, I also realise that teaching attack jutsu to potential civilians is anything but the best idea in the world and I can tell you I'm glad they're not, but I do think that other jutsu need to be taught, for example an earth defence would be useful, the only time there isn't earth around is when you're on the ocean and they wouldn't be much good then anyway' Minato was a little surprised and the Daimyo was astounded at this

'So, just to clarify, you are talking about a complete shake up of the current academy system?' asked Minato

'Pretty much yes, when I look at it the only reason we are able to be the strongest power with the largest shinobi force is because we put that many more in to begin with and even compared with those that don't our shinobi are often a lot older before they take on a mission of any real importance, my first C-rank turned into an A-rank but we completed it and gained valuable experience from it, I would say that by the next chunin exam came round each of the new teams should have completed at least 1 high C-rank mission, certainly if they intended to enter'

'So what about those that struggle with earth, like yourself with a primary affinity to wind?' asked Minato

'I never said they needed it to pass, but they should be taught something that can only be used for defence and needs more chakra than the standard three, wind, fire and lightning are a problem because they lack any defence based techniques, really even an earth wall could cause problems, I only used it as an example. We also need to look carefully at the actual passing tests, again too much paperwork, more focus needs to be on the physical side of things, I think we need some sort of individual survival test and some form of killing to ensure that each person knows what they're getting into, might also be an idea for those that struggle with killing but have a high level of chakra control to be trained separately as medics, if they're started from a younger age they'll be far more skilled meaning more lives can be saved and a life saved today is one more shinobi to strengthen our ranks'

'You raise some very interesting points for one so young, Minato I'd like young Naruto here to teach half a class for the next 3 months and we'll compare how capable the group he teaches is to the group taught normally, none will take the initial test and instead we'll use the Senseis test to check them' said the fire Daimyo

'Ironic you should say that, I'd asked Naruto here because Iruka, who normally teaches, has fallen ill and is unable to teach for the next month but I can arrange for someone else to take half the class if you want' replied Minato

'I would like that very much and depending on the results I may double the budget increase you asked for' said the Daimyo

'Very well, Naruto here's the list of students in the class, please select 15 that you will teach for the remaining 3 months till the genin test' said Minato handing Naruto a clipboard and a pen. Naruto quickly looked through the names and selected the 15 students, mostly the ones with the lowest scores in the class before handing the clipboard and pen back to Minato.

* * *

An hour later Naruto walked into the academy by his right side was a young chunin, probably 3 years older than he was, who obviously DIDN'T know who he was by the sneers and glares he kept giving him, finally Naruto had had enough

'Do you have a problem with me or something?' he asked the chunin, the older boy turned to look at him, he stood a couple of inches taller than Narutos 5'7" his light medium build attempting to give an aura of power against the younger boy, his eyes where blue, but not quite as light as Narutos own and where quite narrow and sat relatively close to his bulbous nose, his lower lip was about the thickness of a pencil and his upper was about half that, his shoulder length light blue hair, held out of his face by his forehead protector instead framed it nicely reminded Naruto of Mizuki and his personality was rapidly appearing to be about the same as he started talking his voice sounded rather feminine

'I just can't see why that excuse we have for a Hokage would decided to have a runt like you teaching half the class' he sneered, before he knew what had happened he found himself slammed against the wall under the harsh glare of Naruto

'Be careful what you say about the Hokage or you may just find yourself dead, or I could always give you to Ibiki first, I don't take kindly to people insulting my father and just so you know it wasn't the Hokages decision for me to teach half the class, it was by order of the Daimyo that I'm doing this' said Naruto, dropping the now scared chunin unceremoniously into a crumpled heap on the floor, the chunin slowly picked himself up using the wall for support

'Y-You're his son?' he croaked out, his throat sore from the force of the impact

'Yes and the second highest ranked ninja in this village, I take orders only from the Hokage or the Daimyo directly, I out rank you so you would be wise not to tick me off again after your comment' said Naruto, leaking enough killing intent to cause the chunin to just about fall over, if not for the wall holding him up

'Now let's get to the class and we'll see what they're like' said Naruto beginning to walk off, the chunin had to quickly pick himself up to follow him.

* * *

(Sound of bugle playing) attack, on to chapter 19

Next chapter: The class, find out some of the kids Naruto has chosen to teach: Chapter 19 – The First Lessons


	19. The First Lessons

Power – Redefined

Chapter 19 – The First Lesson

* * *

Naruto opened the door and caught the board eraser aimed to hit his head before walking into the class and standing in front of Irukas desk. He placed the eraser on it before looking at the class and spotting a bug eyed Konohamaru amongst the rest of the shocked into silence kids and smirking Hanabi, Naruto grinned

'Konohamaru what have I told you about pulling pranks' all the other kids got ready to listen to Konohamaru getting told off 'if you keep trying it like that you'll never hit anyone, hell the only person I've ever seen fall for that one was Kakashi Hatake and that was only because he had his head buried in that damn book of his, now then down to business' said Naruto, he then waited a few moments whilst the class settled down, the chunin that had come in with him was amazed at his control over the class, he already had them ready to listen to him and he'd only just walked in, the class finally settled down and Naruto continued

'Now then for the next three months there are going to be some changes to the class, half of you will be coming with me to trial a new system while the other half will be taught the normal way' immediately the class broke out with kids trying to vie for attention to get into Narutos group, Naruto just held up his hand and waited for them to quiet down which they quickly did, again surprising the chunin

'I've already looked over the class list and know who I'm going to take. Now then at the end of this year you will not receive the standard test, instead you will each be sorted for a sensei and they will give you their own test to see if you will become full genin' he explained and again waited for the chatter to calm down. The chunin was astounded, this kid held more sway over an academy class than he had ever heard possible and he did it like it was nothing

'Now then the other thing I need to tell you for those that are not with me Iruka-sensei has fallen ill and will be unable to teach you for the next month, in the mean time this chunin will be your teach, go ahead and introduce yourself' said Naruto, turning to the chunin. He carefully stepped forward and cleared his throat

'Hello class, my name is Kikon' said the now identified chunin

'Now then the people I've selected to teach are…' Naruto then reeled off a list of 15 names, surprising many because other than the top 2 members of the class and 3 in the middle the rest all had the lowest scores in the class, again the chunin found him to be very strange, why select a group that consisted almost solely of the lowest members of the class when surely if you had the option you would be far better off choosing the top of the class, particularly for a trail system.

* * *

Hokage tower – Minato and the fire Daimyo

'Do you have any idea why Naruto picked the bottom 10 pupils in the class?' asked the Daimyo, Minato smiled

'To prove a point' replied Minato, getting a confused look from the Daimyo

'Please expand Minato' said the Daimyo

'If Naruto chose the top 15 of the class they would already have a high likely hood of not only passing the test but being on a team that would be able to pass the test their sensei would give them, by choosing a group that are likely to fail to begin with he makes more of a point when a higher number successfully pass the test from his group than the group taught the normal way' explained Minato

'Alright then Minato, I'll make you a deal and a bet, the deal is for each of the class Naruto teaches that's able to pass the test I'll increase the budget by 15 percent, the bet is that I don't think 2 of the 4 teams he's teaching will pass, if you win I'll give you any other budget increase you want, lose and I'll make a budget cut in a non-essential area to compensate the one the academy will get, you in?' asked the Daimyo

'I'll take that bet and the deal, I would be willing to bet all 4 teams he's teaching will pass and if 3 out of the 4 teams pass we both lose the bet, so no additional increase and no decrease agreed?' replied Minato holding out his hand

'Agreed' said the Daimyo taking Minatos hand and shaking it to seal the deal

* * *

Naruto led his half of the class to a secluded training area so that he could begin teaching and training them how he thought was best he stopped in the centre of the training ground and turned to the group

'Alright now I need you to form a line because I'm going to give you a little test, when it's your turn I want you to make as many bushin as you can and I'll put you into one of three groups for the next test, group 1, group 2 or group 3, any questions?' said Naruto, Konohamaru raised his hand and Naruto nodded for him to ask

'Boss what's the purpose of this test?' he asked

'You'll find out when it's done' replied Naruto, the group then quickly formed a line and the first one stepped forward. He put his hands together and create 6 bushin

'Group 2' said Naruto, pointing to an area of the training ground, the boy moved over to the area and waited. Next was a girl, she put her hands together and created 5 bushin

'Group 2' said Naruto, the girl went to the same place as the boy and the next one moved forward, also a girl, this one created 3 bushin

'Group 1' said Naruto pointing to the left of the first group, the next one was a boy who looked almost like a smaller version of Choji except he had black hair, he created 10 clones, Naruto nodded

'About what I'd expect from an Akimichi, group 3' he said pointing to an area to the right of group 2, the boy moved across after giving Naruto a surprised look when he said about him being an Akimichi. Next up was a girl that bore a striking resemblance to Shikamaru except with longer hair, she put her hands together and created 2 clones

'No surprise there, you Naras never have had much chakra, group 1' said Naruto, again surprising the child. She quickly moved to the group and Moegi moved forwards, put her hands together and created 5 bushin

'I'm impressed, I didn't think you had that much chakra Moegi, group 2' said Naruto, earning a blush and a smile from the young girl, next was Udon

'Boss I'm a group 1' he said surprising Naruto a little, not that he showed it

'What makes you so sure of that?' asked Naruto

'So far you've put those with 5 or more in group 2, 10 or more in group 3 and less than 5 in group 1, I can make 4' explained the boy "I should've known he would figure it out, he's got brains to match a Nara" thought Naruto

'OK, group 1' he said Udon moved over to the group and Hanabi stepped up next, put her hands together and created 7 clones, Naruto frowned

'Hanabi I said make as many as you can, I know you have enough chakra to make at least 15, I can feel it, now make as many as you can' said Naruto sternly, the rest of the class quickly realised that he wasn't as weak as their normal teachers, Hanabi put her hands together again and created 18 clones, Naruto smiled

'That's more like it, group 3' he said, Hanabi moved over to the group and the next one stepped forwards. The boy put his hands together and created 12 clones

'Good, group 3' said Naruto another boy moved forwards after the last had moved out of the way and stood looking a little embarrassed

'What's wrong?' asked Naruto

'I can't make bushin' said the boy very quietly but Naruto still heard it

'What's your name?' asked Naruto

'Niji Makiwari' replied the boy, his voice still quiet "Ah the last of the class, this is probably why, I'll bet he's got the same problem as me" thought Naruto

'Just try, I have a feeling you'll be surprised, just make as many as you can' said Naruto, the boy nodded and put his hands together, he created 32 clones, surprising the rest of the class

'Just as I thought, you have the same problem I had with it, too much chakra, you can't mould it correctly to make just 2 or 3 clones but you're fine in large numbers, group 3' said Naruto, the boy was now smiling broadly as he practically skipped over to the group. The next was a girl, she put her hands together and created 5 clones, though the 5th was a little unstable

'Close but not quite, group 1' said Naruto. Next was another girl she moved forwards, put her hands together and created 2 clones

'Group 1' the girl moved over to the group and Konohamaru stepped forwards put his hands together, created 19 stable clones and 20th unstable and then fell over

'Not bad Konohamaru, but don't over tax yourself so much, 19 would have been fine, group 3' said Naruto after he caught the boy, he then created a shadow clone and it carried Konohamaru over to the group so that he could rest. Next was a girl wearing a large red jacket and large sunglasses

'Kikai on your left regular on your right please' said Naruto, the girl simply nodded before creating 2 clones on her left and 3 on her right, Naruto nodded

'I think group 2 will be fine' said Naruto, again the girl nodded and joined the group. The next was a feral looking girl with a small brown puppy on her head, much the same as Kiba used to do with Akamaru, she put her hands together and created 8 clones

'Not surprising from an Inuzuka, Kibas techniques take up as much chakra as some of mine, group 2' said Naruto, it was at this point the rest of the clan children realised how he knew so much about them and their abilities, finally the last of the group moved forwards, the boy had shoulder length straight blond hair "The Yamanaka" thought Naruto. The boy put his hands together and created 6 bushin, sort of, the last looked more like an after image, it had colour but was almost completely see through

'Group 2, now then the purpose of the test was to tell me exactly how much chakra each of you had to better understand why some of you where at the bottom of the class considering half a dozen of you are from clans and should really be near the top, the exception being the Nara as you lot just can't be bothered to put the effort in' said Naruto before mumbling something about Shikamaru being a pain that the group didn't quite hear 'Right any questions before we continue?' asked Naruto, several hands raised Naruto pointed to the Nara girl

'Would I be right in thinking you where in the same graduating class as Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuga and the famed Lightning Leaf, Naruto Namikaze?' she asked

'Actually it's Uzumaki-Namikaze, I'm the youngest of both clans and proud to carry both names' he replied, causing the entire class bar Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon and Hanabi to go bug-eyed and slack-jawed

'You mean you ARE the Lightning Leaf?' asked Niji, Naruto nodded in reply, for most of the class things where starting to make sense, for Niji they just got a whole world better, he'd heard how the Lightning Leaf had graduated at the bottom of his class and learned a forbidden technique to do so, had taken his first C-ranked mission less than 2 months later which had turned into an A-rank mission, it was completed successfully and the town he'd help save had regarded him as a hero, he had awakened his Kekkei Genkai a few weeks before the finals of his first chunin exam, which was also the first one available to him, had defeated Gaara no Sabaku, then of Suna, a powerful Jinchuuriki.

From there he'd gone from strength to strength, he'd defeated Orochimaru whilst away to bring back Tsunade to be the 5th Hokage, only to return and find the 4th had returned, which many rumours gave him a hand in, had been promoted to the newly created rank of Jokyu Jonin, which left him answerable only to the Hokage and Fire Daimyo, at the end of his first chunin exam, his first true A-rank mission had been to secure a peace treaty with Kumo, which he had completed successfully, with all aspects of the treaty going in Konohas favour and the latest rumours pegged him as having come back from leading a team that defeated Akatsuki only hours ago and he had been the one to kill their leader. Next Hanabi raised her hand

'What question do you have Hanabi?' asked Naruto

'I was wondering if you would be teaching us any techniques, since you know loads, even many you shouldn't?' asked the young Hyuga, remembering when he had branded her with the caged bird seal 2 years before, Naruto laughed

'It's possible but before I do I need to find the ones that are suitable for civilians to know in case any of you fail, next question, you' said Naruto pointing to Niji

'How did you pass the genin test if you couldn't do bushin?' he asked, wanting to know more about his hero

'Let me correct you there, I can't do bushin, even now' he said before mumbling something that sounded like 'stupid furball' before continuing 'I learned a technique called the Shadow Clone jutsu to pass and before you ask no I can't teach it to you, if I had tried to make the maximum number of bushin I could whilst at the academy I would've been making well over a thousand, when I learned Shadow clone jutsu, which takes about 5 times the chakra that a normal bushin does, I could already make over a hundred, I had more chakra and stamina than nearly all jonin and ANBU, you would probably be the only person in the class able to make more than one shadow clone, and your limit would be about 3, right last question before I explain about the next test, you' he said pointing to a girl in the front of the second group

'I thought I heard you say 'stupid furball' when you explained how you passed, if you did what did you mean by it?' she asked, Naruto laughed again

'I did and as some of you know and others don't I was once the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi-no-Yoko, my experience with fellow former Jinchuurikis has taught me one important thing, the only people ever likely to insult one of the tailed demons is the jinchuuriki they where sealed in and really they are the only ones that should since their lives are made a living hell through no fault of their own' explained Naruto, the members of the class that didn't know he had held the Kyuubi where shocked at the revelation

'I bet it wasn't really that bad, can't have been as bad as growing up with out parents' said one foolish boy at the back of the class, Hanabi, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon quickly closed their eyes, not wanting to watch as Naruto swiftly moved through the crowd of kids to the boy that made the comment and picked him up by the throat

'Congratulations, you just got yourself a chance to experience being the victim of an attack on a jinchuuriki without parents that was hated by this entire village' said Naruto darkly, the boys eyes went wide and a couple of seconds later Naruto dropped the boy to the floor and return to the front while the boy curled up in a ball muttering 'I'm sorry' continuously

'Let that be a lesson to all of you, no matter how bad you think your life may be, it is NOTHING compared to the life a jinchuuriki experiences, I was very lucky, I'm male, one of my friends wasn't so lucky, once she hit the age of ten along with all the beatings she took she was also raped, sometimes for days at a time, the people of this village where also fortunate that the seal holding Kyuubi within me was very strong, the Jinchuuriki of Suna, Gaara, wasn't sealed properly and became highly mentally unstable, the wrong look was enough to invite death by his sand, remember this lesson well and pass it on to future generations, all jinchuuriki should be treated as the heroes they are or they may end up destroying the very village they where supposed to be protecting' said Naruto darkly with his back to them.

The group stayed silent, contemplating what Naruto had said before he turned back round and looked at the young Yamanaka boy

'How good are you with your family jutsu?' he asked, the boy looked a little taken back by the question before replying carefully

'I can do them but I'm not brilliant, why?' he asked cautiously

'Could you close off most of the memories I just gave that idiot?' asked Naruto

'No, the only 2 currently capable of that are my Uncle Inoichi and my cousin Ino' replied the boy "Typical" thought Naruto, he quickly created a shadow clone and it disappeared to find Ino, knowing Inoichi would be busy with Obito

'Fine, that one's gone to find Ino, next is the second test, each of you will climb a tree WITHOUT using your hands, I'll show you how it's done and Hanabi' he said looking towards the young Hyuga and waiting to get her full attention before continuing 'no cheating, your Byakugan stays off, now watch me' he said firmly before walking up to a nearby tree and up it before hanging upside down on a branch before releasing his chakra and somersaulting in the air to land on his feet facing the 3 groups

'Now then we'll start with group one, then 2 and finish with group 3 and then probably have to wait for the class idiot to do it after Ino's finished' said Naruto. 20 minutes later Ino arrived with the clone and Naruto explained exactly what had happened, to which Ino replied she was almost tempted to just leave him as he was for his own stupidity, having had a training session with Naruto and had the opportunity to use her mind control on him only to quickly release it with the images his mind was filled with and knowing that even Sasuke finding his entire clan massacred was nothing in comparison. After doing it she said she'd also left him with the knowledge that it was a very mild attack, which it had been. The class noticed a big change in the boy, having previously been quite arrogant with an attitude of 'I don't know why I'm here and why I'm being rated so low because I can take care of myself' to a realisation that in the grand scheme of life, never mind ninja life, he'd seen nothing. Nearly an hour later the class was finished

'Excellent, now I know exactly what your chakra control is like, we have a few more tests left before we're done and then you can go home, first I want each of you to do as many laps of this training area as you can, any questions?' he asked, one girl raised her hand

'Why do we have to do this?' she asked, Naruto sighed

'Because I need to know how much endurance each of you have, now start running, the sooner you start the sooner you finish' as soon as he said this most of the group began running laps, leaving just the Nara girl who was doing a great impersonation of Shikamaru by lying on her back and staring at the clouds

'Any particular reason you're not running?' asked Naruto, the girl propped herself up on her elbows to look at him before answering

'It's too troublesome to run laps' she replied, Naruto laughed

'Spoken like a true Nara, but comprehend this if you don't do the running now I can quiet easily cause more problems for you later and it's not hard for me to get the backing of Shikamaru to make sure you either don't pass if you carry on this way or end up doing what I tell you' he said

'You can't fail me, you don't have the authority even with Shikamarus backing' she said lying back down

'Shall we check that with the Hokage, but I don't think my father would like to be bothered with such trivial matters and would likely take it out on you for causing them' explained Naruto, the girl grudgingly lifted herself off the ground and began doing laps of the training ground muttering about troublesome teachers with Hokages for parents. After about 2 hours the last of the group, Niji, finally fell to the ground after running nearly 150 laps of the training ground, Naruto walked over, picked him and brought him back to the group as he had with all the others when they had done the same thing

'Excellent well done all of you, now then the next test is a spar to first blood, this will tell me exactly how capable each of you far better than the standard sparring matches, the first 2 to fall in the laps will go first in this since they have to most time to recover, the rules are simple you fight until one of you starts to bleed, falls unconscious or I stop the match, you can use anything you have available, bloodlines, weapons, the terrain and any extra jutsu you know, understood?' he asked, getting nods all round he called out the first 2 names. He watched the matches carefully and had to stop a couple of them finding one particular student to know a fire technique and another to know a lightning technique, which really surprised him.

'Right now then that just leaves one more test and this is the most important test of them all, I'm going to create a clone that for all intents and purposes is alive, it will then henge into a random person, it could look like your mother or father or it could be a missing ninja from this, or another, village, I will then hand you a kunai and you must kill it' said Naruto immediately a clone appeared next to him and henged into Orochimaru he called out a name and the girl came forward, he handed her a kunai and she walked up to the henged clone.

The young girls hands shook as she brought the kunai inline with the clones heart, taking several deep breaths she steeled herself and then thrust the kunai into its heart, hearing its cry of pain she let go of the kunai and watched the life drain from its eyes as it fell to the floor and died before going up in a puff of smoke, Naruto started clapping and walked over to support the girl

'Well done, well done, ssshhhh, sssshhhh, sssshhhh, it's ok, it's ok' he soothed the girl holding her as she sobbed after a few minutes she finally calmed down enough to return to the group at which point Naruto turned and addressed them

'This is exactly like making your first kill, you can feel the warmth from these clones, you can hear, feel and even see them breathing, as I said before they are, for all intents and purposes, alive. The first kill you make is always the hardest normally you'd make it suddenly in combat and then freeze, be thankful your first kill is now and not out in the field in the middle of a mission now then on to the next person, Konohamaru it's your turn' said Naruto making another clone, this time it didn't henge instead staying exactly like Naruto. As Konohamaru walked up to the clone, kunai in hand, he noticed it wasn't henged

'Naruto-sensei the clone hasn't henged yet do I still have to kill it?' he asked

'Yes, this is the ultimate test, one that I pray none of you will ever face, every so often a ninja will leave the village and you may be charged with tracking them down and killing them. In many cases you will have never met that person before but there is always the chance that person is someone close to you as an example, take Sasuke Uchiha, a prime example, he bore witness to the massacre of his entire clan at the hands of his older brother, the mission he gave himself was too gain strength and then seek out and kill Itachi, you will likely never face a situation such as this, but there is always the possibility one of you could end up a missing ninja, regardless of the reason and the rest of you will have to be able to kill them, Konohamaru you know what you need to do' said Naruto, Konohamaru nodded.

He walked up to the clone and steeled his nerves as much as he could before thrusting the kunai into the clones chest up to the hilt, after that point Naruto had a new respect for the boy, despite becoming a wreck after he'd done it he didn't blink when he pushed the kunai in making sure his aim was straight and deadly

'Lord Sarutobi please take your grandson home and comfort him, I will come round later on and see him' said Naruto, instantly the Third Hokage was by his grandsons side and gently lifted him up

'That was a harsh test Naruto, thank you for giving it too him' said the aged Sarutobi before disappearing to take the distraught child to the comfort of his home

'Hanabi your next' said Naruto again creating a clone which this time henged into Neji, Hanabi stopped dead in her tracks, then slowly but surely steeled her resolve and taking the kunai in her hand she thrust it into her cousins heart before collapsing to the ground

'Shinju dear can you take Hanabi back to the clan house and ask Neji to speak with her, tell him what's happened because she's going to be saying sorry to him a lot' said Naruto as he started Hinata appeared by his side

'OK, I'll see you later' said Hinata, she had known as all the other members of the Konoha 12 as soon as Sasuke had the curse seal on him that there was a chance he'd go rouge and they would be charged with bringing him back, they where all glad they had never had too but none the less understood the importance of this test.

Again and again the children stepped forwards to make their first kill, many with members of their own clan, the Nara girl was as bad as Shikamaru, knowing full well that it wasn't her cousin she just chucked the kunai into the clones chest and walked away, but Naruto had seen the look in her eyes, she knew enough but the clone was still close enough to the real thing to take the edge of her first true kill, which was all she would need to be able to make a kill against a stranger in full flowing combat. 3 members of the group, 2 girls and a boy, went up against henges of people Naruto had seen in other countries had been unable to come through and when other members of the class started heckling them Naruto quickly stamped it out

'Now listen up and listen good because this is very important, not everyone is capable of killing and those three that haven't are even more important because they will make the best medic ninjas and one day they could be the ones you have to entrust your life to because few people can survive injuries the way I can so when push comes to shove and your injured in the middle of enemy territory hiding from enemy ninja the only people that can save your life are the medics on your team so DO NOT insult them or I will end your ninja career before you even make genin understand?' said Naruto sternly. Finally they had all done the test and Naruto now knew how they would be trained

'Alright the last thing I have for each of you is a special set of weights I created myself, each of you will wear them at all times except when getting washed, you will even sleep in them, there is one for each arm, one for each leg and one for your chest, they will start off weighing a total of one tenth of your total body weight and gradually increase as you get used to them, except for the three that where unable to kill and the Aburame, the three that didn't kill will wear weights that start at one eighth of your total body weight and increase by larger amounts when you get used to them, as for you Chihiro I've spent a lot of time with your cousin Shino developing weights specially suited for your clan, I'll send a clone with you tonight so that he can sort you out with a set the rest of you will put them on now' he said taking a scroll out of his pocket and unrolling it

'Sensei why do we have to do this?' asked the Nara girl, Chigusa

'Because I intend for this group to be the best group to ever become genin, you will never match the notoriety I have but you won't be far behind, it will no longer be just the Uchiha and the Hyuga that have power in this village, my aim is to ensure that after your generation every single clan in Konoha will be a force to be reckoned with and the great tree of Konoha will be a near indestructible force of power' explained Naruto as he unsealed the first set of weights, they appeared to be little more than a black vest and ankle and wrist warmers but the group quickly learned they where any thing but they also noticed three red symbols on each item as Naruto handed them out to each member of the group

'Now then to explain the three symbols you are no doubt wondering about. Each is a seal that has a specific use, one is a cleaning seal, one is a repair seal and the last is a growth seal, the seals will activate by themselves when needed so you don't need to know anything more about them. Now I'm going to give you a brief run down on what you will learn while studying under me.'

'First will be battlefield taijutsu, not the kind the teach in the academy I'm talking something more akin to the Inuzukas style of if your opponent has an opening hit it with anything you can. Second is endurance, some of you, like Niji, have immense amounts of stamina whilst others like Chigusa have next to none, then there is chakra control which is where these 2 reverse, Chigusas small stores give her excellent control while Nijis make it near impossible for him to control it well enough for the simplest of jutsu, I have a means to change that. The Fourth thing you will all learn is basic sealing, as you've seen by the scroll I used it is far easier and it makes it a lot easier to travel on missions.'

'Finally you will be split into 2 groups, the 3 that failed to kill will be taught medical ninjutsu and navigation, your weapons training will be based on defending against weapons both with your own and whilst unarmed, the group that killed will be taught some less basic defensive ninjutsu and killing points, there are plenty of ways to kill, from blunt force to an accurate hit, you will each be trained with kunai and shuriken as well as learning the basic kata and stances for 12 further weapons after which you will choose the 3 weapons that feel most comfortable to you, this is not about the weapons you think are the coolest this is about the weapons that suit you best and could one day save your life' explained Naruto

He then looked round the group for any with questions before creating a clone to go home with Chihiro and dismissing them telling them to meet him there at 8.30 the next morning, he then left himself for the Sarutobi estate.

* * *

Not how I originally plan to write this chapter but I think it worked well

Next chapter: A new mission and an old face: Chapter 20 - From the Past to the Future


	20. From the Past to the Future

Power – Redefined

Chapter 20 – From the Past to the Future

* * *

Naruto arrived at the Sarutobi estate and knocked on the door, after several minutes it was answered. The door swung open to reveal Asuma, who upon seeing Naruto on the other side got a hard expression on his face

'That was quite cruel of you Naruto, you know how much Konohamaru looks up to you' he said

'Which was exactly why I did it, I needed to push him to his limits, if he could kill me then I knew he would be able to be one of the greatest ninjas ever, in truth I don't think I could've killed Sasuke if he'd gone rouge, may I see him?' replied Naruto, Asuma didn't look very happy but motioned for him to come in. He led Naruto through the house and up to the second floor, then along the hallways till they got to the last room and Asuma knocked on the door

'Konohamaru there's someone here to see you' he said through the door, the sounds of shuffling items and sniffling could be heard inside before the sound of footsteps coming towards the door and then the door opened to reveal Konohamaru standing with puffy red eyes and streaks down his cheeks clearly showing that he'd been crying

'Hey boss, what's up' asked Konohamaru half-heartedly, Asuma was shocked to hear the boy still refer to Naruto as boss, he either had a huge amount of respect for him to over ride it or understood the purpose of the test well enough to not need to

'I came round to see how you were doing and have a little chat with you' said Naruto softly and Konohamaru seemed to brighten up considerably at this

'Come on in boss' he said weakly as he turned around and walked back into the room, Naruto nodded his thanks to Asuma before following the boy into the room. The room was about a 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres across from the door was the window with light blue curtains, the bed was up against the wall on the right with the headboard butted up against the wall the window was on above the head of the bed was the same poster of the Konoha emblem Naruto used to have above his bed, above the bed on the right hand wall was a map displaying all the nations and ninja villages in the elemental countries, at the end of the right wall at the junction with the wall the door was on sat a small box containing various types of kunai and shuriken, the entire left wall was taken up by a walk in closet but Naruto suspected that it was used to keep pretty much everything since beyond the small desk and chair on the left side of the wall the door the room was pretty much empty

'How are you feeling?' asked Naruto after he closed the door and turned back round, Konohamaru slumped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling for several minutes before he answered

'Better but not brill, I can understand why you wanted us to kill but why did I have to kill you?' he asked without taking his eyes off the ceiling

'Because I know how much you look up to me, I remember the day I graduate from the academy, I was tricked into stealing a scroll and ended up learning the shadow clone jutsu before having to defeat a traitor, really I should have killed him but back then I couldn't, he's currently locked away for his crimes' explained Naruto, Konohamaru seemed to mull over the information before sitting up and nodding at Naruto, Naruto smiled

'So I can expect to see to in class tomorrow then?' he asked

'Count on it boss' replied Konohamaru

'Oh one last thing, I want you to wear those weights I gave you all the time now, the rest of the class are so you should to' Naruto said, Konohamaru nodded then Naruto got up and waved good bye before walking out of the house shouting his goodbyes the rest on the way. Once outside he vanished in a flash of yellow.

* * *

Naruto appeared outside the front door of the Hyuga main house to find the entire compound in chaos. He quickly tried to work out what was going on when suddenly the door opened to reveal Neji

'Naruto, thank Kami you're here, Mizuki's broken out of jail with the help of Fuijin and Raijin. He heard from some of the guards that you were engaged to Hinata to he took her, Hanabi's in an even worse state than before, Kotetsu has begun chasing them' said Neji, Naruto swiftly weighed up his options and determined the best course of action

'Neji I need you to look after Hanabi, I'm going to get Kiba and Shino and give chase, if it's me that bastard wants then it's me he'll get and send someone to tell Tsunade those 2 are out, she'll deal with them' said Naruto, his voice leaving no room for argument, Neji nodded and Naruto was once again gone in a flash of yellow

* * *

Naruto quickly found Kiba and Akamaru, who was now up to Kibas waist, training at the Inuzuka clan estate, within 3 minutes they knew the situation and where ready to go, mere moments later Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru appeared outside the Aburame estate to find it buzzing with activity and the ever stoic Shino already waiting for them, his Kikai buzzing around him showing his agitation. Quickly the three left and where following Kotetsus trail through the forest on the west side of Konoha.

* * *

It took over 15 minutes for them to finally catch up with Kotetsu, they tracked him to a large building that had once been used for the chunin exams preliminaries but was now in a terrible state of disrepair. Naruto activated his Infra-red vision and, leaving Kiba, Akamaru and Shino outside, appeared inside the building in a yellow flash, blinding Mizuki for a moment but not Kotetsu, who had sensed his chakra coming and covered his eyes, once inside Naruto switched from Infra-red to night vision

'Mizuki you bastard, where is Hinata!' demanded Naruto watching Mizuki very carefully

'Wouldn't you like to know DEMON, you've corrupted her enough so I thought it would be best to keep her away whilst she gets re-educated' taunted Mizuki, Narutos blood was starting to boil

'The last person to threaten Hinata was Orochimaru, I nearly killed him and you will face the same fate if you don't take me to her right now' Growled Naruto, Mizuki laughed and launched a kunai at him, Naruto just reached up and caught it

'So you've gotten a little skilled I see, you're still no match for me' Mizuki again taunted

'Mizuki if you weren't such an idiot I'd feel sorry for you, Naruto's the strongest shinobi in this village, he makes his father, Minato Namikaze our Hokage seem weak, Naruto I'll leave him to you' said Kotetsu, Naruto just nodded and Kotetsu vanished in a cloud of smoke to join the 2 boys and a dog standing outside. As soon as Kotetsu left Naruto kicked it up a notch appearing right in front of Mizuki

'It doesn't matter how much you suppress your chakra bastard I can see in the dark' said Naruto

'Just like the fox you are then, eh DE... ' Mizuki began before discovering that pissing Naruto off got you free flights into hard objects

'You want to know something Mizuki, the fox doesn't exist any more, I absorbed his chakra and memories to save Hinata, hell you picked the worst possible time to piss me off, I got back today from killing a number of S-class ninjas on a higher level than Itachi Uchiha and I was looking forward to a quiet night in with Hinata' said Naruto once again appearing in front of Mizuki, he smirked

'Like I believe that, you where the dead last, bottom of the class, the hopeless case, you'll never beat me, you just got a lucky shot' said Mizuki before repeating Kotetsus escape, only this time Naruto followed

* * *

20 metres from the tower Mizuki reappeared, he bent over supporting himself by placing his hands on his knees and breathing deeply, then he saw a yellow flash from behind him. Quickly he spun round and there was, someone, at first Mizuki thought it was the Fourth Hokage

"No it can't be he died, that idiot Kotetsu was lying, it couldn't, that demon must be using a henge or a genjutsu to cover the whisker marks, but still with that much strength and power I'm going to need _that_ to beat him, it should be ready by now" thought Mizuki

'You won't fool me demon' he said before jumping off into the trees. Naruto just calmly followed, Mizuki was running flat out and getting very tired while Naruto hadn't even broken a sweat. After chasing Mizuki for nearly 10 minutes they finally arrived in a clearing at the base of a small hill, part of the hill had been dug out and it lead into a small cave, Mizuki quickly ran into the cave while Naruto just stood in the clearing and waited for him to re-emerge.

* * *

'I almost feel sorry for Mizuki, but he had it coming taking Hinata, even other nations aren't that stupid now, apparently Hinatas got a page in Iwas Bingo Book with a warning 'DO NOT engage, life partner to the Lightning Leaf, certain death to any that injure her' and even the Tsuchikage would flee on sight of her' said Kiba, Akamaru barked his agreement and Shino just nodded

'I know what you mean, I thought Mizuki was stupid the first time he went after Naruto but I didn't think he'd be this stupid' said Kotetsu, the three where walking along following Shinos bugs since he'd placed one on Naruto.

* * *

Inside the cave Mizuki was quickly making the final preparations. First a blue, then a green and finally a pink liquid merged together and flowed into a pool at the bottom of a strange table

'First I'll kill that demon you call a boyfriend waiting outside, then I'll have a bit of fun with you before I begin your re-education' he said then he started cackling manically, Hinata smirked through the gag in her mouth, her hands where tied behind her back but Mizuki hadn't bothered to keep her fingers separate, figuring that being a Hyuga she wouldn't know anything beyond the basic academy jutsu, she quickly made the hand signs and outside the cave a clone appeared beside Naruto and told him what Mizuki had just said.

Mizuki quickly downed the strange liquid that he'd pored into a glass and walked back outside, his body slowly changing into a form reminiscent of someone using a curse seal.

* * *

As Mizuki came into view in the mouth of the cave Hinatas clone dispersed, in Narutos eyes was a new kind of rage, one not seen before

'So you plan on raping my fiancé, the heiress of the Hyuga clan, you really are despicable, I was going to kill you quickly but now I'm going to make sure it's slow and painful' Growled Naruto, Mizuki smirked

'They won't care what I do to her, once I return to the village with your head I'll be haled as a hero and thanked for cleaning the mind of the girl the demon tainted, I'll be given a full pardon' he said, his form had almost completely changed, his skin was now orange and his upper body was much larger than it had been and the black lines across his back looked strangely like those of a tiger. Suddenly Mizuki charged, his speed had increased several times, Naruto just stood and waited, Mizuki pulled his right fist back and threw it at Naruto as hard as he could.

He hit Naruto in the middle of his chest, a loud crack was heard and Mizuki quickly pulled his hand back cradling it with his left hand, Naruto just sighed

'You really are pathetic, I've faced the curse seal in its final form and yours isn't even close to being complete' he said slowly drawing a wakazashi out with his left hand, Mizuki blinked, Naruto was gone. A moment latter he felt the blade plunge through his shorts in between his legs, he quickly jumped out of the way and heard Naruto start laughing

'I don't know why I was worried, you haven't even got the equipment to hurt Hinata, it looks like a gnat's got more equipment than you, it's no wonder your voice is so high, you never had any balls for them to drop' This had exactly the effect Naruto wanted it to have. Mizuki ran at him throwing punches left and right, Naruto for the most part just danced round them, occasionally allowing one to hit and then smirking at the cry of pain Mizuki gave off.

This went on for about 20 minutes and finally Kotetsu, Kiba and Shino arrived just in time to watch Naruto make an angled swipe at Mizukis wedding tackle and cut clean through it, they initially cringed, that is until what little of a package Mizuki had fell out of the hole Narutos blade had created, at which point Kotetsu and Kiba fell down in fits of laughter and Shino was visibly chuckling, probably the most emotion he'd ever shown.

Mizuki or rather Mizuko was now on the floor clutching the area that had once defined him as a man, if only just. Naruto calmly walked up and stood over Mizuko in the same split second Mizukos eyes opened to look at Naruto, Naruto activated Kakeme.

'Where have you taken me DEMON?' demanded Mizuko from the form of Naruto standing across from him

'This is an illusion much like the Sharingans Tsukuyomi only several times more powerful, the Tsukuyomi is limited to a mere 3 days of time to torture someone, for Kakeme the time limit is 3 weeks' at this point the image of Naruto slowly faded away 'For the next 2 weeks you will experience what it was like to be me for the first 12 years of my life followed by the beating you first took from me and then you will re-experience the attacks you just launched at me' his voice now came from everywhere. The world around Mizuko faded into total darkness, as the light slowly came back to her she found she couldn't move and looked over to see that her body was small, the size of a child and there where adults around her, one kneeling on her legs and one kneeling on each arm.

After what seemed like years Mizuko was finally standing back where she'd been before and again she heard Naruto speak

'13 Days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59seconds remaining' it said from every direction at once. Again and again Mizuko felt the horrors Naruto had gone through as a child and finally it stopped and Naruto reappeared in front of her

'Now for the next 24 hours you will get to experience the first time I killed Orochimaru, as though you where him' came Narutos voice, Mizuko then found herself running before hearing the unearthly cry of a broken heart

'HELLS INFERNAL REKONING: DEMON DESTRUCTION JUTSU' Mizuko felt pain but after the experiences she'd had living through Narutos childhood this pain was nothing, she heard the screams of immense pain that had come form Orochimaru but realised that compared to Naruto he had got it easy again and again, thousands of times she went through the same experience before returning to the same place she'd first arrived in

'For the next 3 days you will watch every single one of the people you've ever cared about be tortured and then in the final 3 days you will experience the deaths of every single person you've ever killed, as though you where them' said Naruto coldly. Again the world faded to black and exactly as Naruto had promised she watched every single person she had ever cared for be tortured and killed again and again followed by experiencing what it was like to be the victim of his kills.

* * *

Finally Naruto released Kakeme and Mizuko stopped moving, save for the steady movement of her chest to show she was still breathing. A clone appeared beside Naruto and quickly ran into the cave, a couple of minutes later it walked back out holding Hinatas hand and lead her to Naruto before dispersing

'Would you care to be the one to break a limb and bring _her_ back into the conscious world?' he asked, Hinata nodded and walked up to the unconscious form of Mizuko, grabbing her ankle she lined her foot up so that the side ran parallel with the floor then she put her own foot just below Mizukos foot and pulled upwards. The result was a resounding crack and squish followed closely by a blood curdling scream, or at least in would have been if it had been any other person. Hinata held out her hand, Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, he quickly unrolled it and placed his hand on the scroll, a moment later the smoke cleared and in his hand was a scythe which he passed to Hinata.

Mizuko looked on as Hinata raised the scythe, to her it looked like the grim reaper had come to call and she couldn't look more beautiful. She closed he eyes and waited for the end only to let out another scream as Hinata sliced her left leg off below the knee

"Who is this girl, she was the quiet one, she couldn't even form a sentence without stuttering never mind being able to hurt someone like this?" Mizukos mind raced with questions which where continually being interrupted as Hinata continued the slow and painful dissection of the now helpless body before spinning the scythe on the palm of her hand and creating a slice just big enough to cause Mizuko to die by drowning on her own blood mere moments before she would die of blood loss. Kotetsu, Kiba, Shino and even Akamaru silently vowed to never piss Hinata off, EVER. Hinata and Naruto calmly walked back over to them, the parts of Mizuko sealed away in a scroll

'Let's go back' said Naruto and each member of the group placed a hand on the boys' chest and vanished.

* * *

Naruto chucked the scroll onto the desk that Minato was sitting at doing paperwork, Minato looked up from the work to see Naruto, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru and Kotetsu standing in front of him

'What's left of Mizuko is inside that scroll' said Naruto pointing at the scroll that Minato had just picked up, Minato looked up from it in surprise

'Don't you mean Mizuki?' he asked

'Trust me Lord Hokage, it was Mizuko after Naruto removed what little there was there to begin with' said Kiba accompanied by a bark and a whine from Akamaru, Minato merely nodded

'I'll drop by in a while with the reports for the class but I need to see if Hanabi's OK first' said Naruto

'OK, I'll talk to you then son' replied Minato and a moment later was left alone in the room after a yellow flash, he was glad the Daimyo had decided to go back to his hotel room until Naruto was ready to make his initial report on the class.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata dropped off Kiba, Akamaru, Shino and Kotetsu and then returned to the Hyuga compound, which was a lot quieter now, after hearing that Naruto himself had gone after Mizuki they stopped worrying about Hinatas safety and started wondering how many pieces Mizuki would come back in, because if Naruto didn't cut him up Hinata certainly would, over the past 2 years her confidence had grown to the point you wouldn't guess she ever had a problem with her confidence and had no problem letting people know when she wasn't happy.

They walked in and headed for Hanabis room, once they arrived Hinata knocked on the door and after a couple of minutes they heard a muffled 'come in' from the other side so Hinata slid the door open and they stepped inside then Naruto slid it closed. The room was quite sparse, on the far wall was the window, the right hand wall was a large closet with doors made form a rare Oak only available in mist, not that Naruto expected anything less from the clan that had almost as much money as Konoha itself, the left had the head of a queen size bed butted up against the centre of it covered in white bed clothes and lying face down on the bed with her head buried in a pillow was Hanabi.

'How are you feeling?' asked Hinata, it was immediately apparent that Hanabi hadn't checked who was at the door when she'd said for them to come in because her head flew up and a mere moment later her arms where wrapped tightly around Hinatas waist

'I'm so glad you're safe Hinata, I was so worried about you' she said, Hinata looked down at her and smiled

'Now did you really think that Naruto would let anything happen to me?' asked the older girl, at this point Hanabi realised that Naruto was also in the room so she turned to him, her face contorted as her mind fought, on one hand she was still pissed at him for what he had her do earlier and on the other she was grateful to him for saving her sister and she really couldn't decided which to go with. Naruto saw her dilemma and decided to ask the question he needed to

'Do you understand the reason I made you kill Neji?' he asked, Hanabis face contorted even more as she tried to comprehend the reason he could've possibly had for wanting her to kill her cousin, after several minutes of deliberation she finally shook her head, Naruto sighed, he was going to have to explain it to her

'You see Neji as a brother don't you' Naruto stated getting a nod from the girl he continued 'so the only people that could hold a bigger place in your heart are Hinata, your father and the boy you fall in love with' he continued, the last one getting a blush form Hanabi, Hinata looked at her curiously but decided to leave it for another occasion to question it 'So if your best friend decided to turn rouge and leave the village, maybe killing a few people on his way out, knowing that you could kill someone who was like a brother to you, do you think it would be easier or harder to kill them if you had too?' he finally asked, Hanabis face once again contorted in thought for several minutes before it brightened up a bit

'It would be easier for me to kill them because I wouldn't have the same level of attachment to them' she replied, Naruto and Hinata smiled

'Excellent, we all know that neither Neji nor your father are likely to leave this village soon and if Hinata left it would be with me and even Danzo isn't stupid enough to send someone after us, oh and here are the weights you need, wear them all the time' said Naruto handing her a scroll, Hanabis face brightened considerably with her new understanding

'You better go and see Minato Naruto, I'll see you at home later tonight' said Hinata, Naruto nodded and once again vanished in a yellow flash

'So tell me Hanabi, who have you got a crush on?' asked Hinata, once again getting a blush from the younger girl

'Well I did have one on Konohamaru but after my enlightening time baring the cared bird seal I kind of got a crush on Niji Makiwari, and erm, Mame Inuzuka' said Hanabi, fidgeting constantly, Hinata smiled

'So you're not just interested in guys then, good for you, I hope you get them both, I better go and speak to Dad before I head home, care to come?' replied Hinata, Hanabi nodded firmly once and grabbing Hinatas hand the pair walked off in search of Haishi.

* * *

Naruto appeared in the Hokages office to find Minato and the Daimyo sitting having a conversation about the chunin exams in nine months time, Minato quickly noticed Narutos presence and waved him into the available seat

'Now Naruto, tell us, what do you think of the class?' asked Minato

'Well I'm not surprised most of them where on the lower end, most can make at least 5 bushin and the apparent dead last can make over thirty, it's no wonder he could never do the two they would ask for, his chakra control sucks, same with most of them, I have 3 suitable candidates for medics so I need to talk to Tsunade about beginning their training. All in all I think they're a far better group than the academy gave them credit for, also I need you to update these files as shown' he said handing Minato a piece of paper, Minato looked it over carefully before looking up and handing it to the Daimyo

'So you're telling me that 3 fourths of the class have made their first kills and you would rate most of the lowest in the class as on par with your own class?' asked Minato astonished at the information Naruto had given him

'That's right, I think the fact that the dead last made more than any other and did nearly 4 times as many laps proves that point and with the training schedule I have planned I expect them to be at the same level as the Shi-Ino-Cho team was when they entered the chunin exams the first time, add to that I've got them all wearing weights' replied Naruto

'Wait a minute, you're telling me that you expect this group of academy students to be able to participate in and pass the chunin exams on their first try?' asked the Daimyo

'No I don't quite think they'd be able to pass, unless the rest of the teams where quite weak, but I certainly think they wouldn't be that far off' said Naruto, Minato and the Daimyo contemplated this new information for a couple of minutes

'How where you able to give them their first kill?' asked the Daimyo, Naruto smiled

'It's an advanced clone technique, it takes a lot of chakra to create but once done they can only be dispersed by a killing blow, before they go they will give all the signs of being a real person, right down to bleeding so whilst it isn't quite the same as actually killing it's close enough that they have the experience and won't hesitate in battle, which was what I did my first time, I was lucky, the person I fought wanted to die when I was due to land the killing blow and they didn't put up a fight but had that not been the case it's likely I would've suffered a near death experience' explained Naruto, confusing the Daimyo

'Why would it have only been a near death experience?' he asked

'Because I've never been easy to kill, thanks to Kyuubi I can survive almost any injury short of having my head removed' he said flatly, the Daimyos mouth formed an 'O' shape as realisation hit him

'OK well I think that answers everything, you can go now Naruto' said Minato

'Thanks Dad, goodbye Lord Daimyo' said Naruto before once again disappearing with a flash

'So what do you think of the bet now?' asked Minato

'I almost wish I hadn't made it, with the way he's training them there's a good chance they'd be able to pass the test on their own without needing a team' said the Daimyo

'I'm not sure about that, Naruto himself will be taking a team and I have a feeling that he'll find a way to make it hard enough to test them' said Minato.

* * *

Naruto returned home to the smell of ramen being cooked, he slowly ambled through the house into the kitchen following his nose and arrived to find Hinata standing over a large pot of shrimp ramen

'That smells great and I'll bet it'll taste even better, you know you never cease to amaze me with your cooking' said Naruto walking up behind Hinata and wrapping his arms around her waist before kissing her cheek

'I aim to please' replied Hinata "And tonight's going to be extra special with the ingredients I added to this one" she thought.

10 Minutes later Hinata poured the ramen into bowls, added the toppings and placed 7 bowls on Narutos side of the table and 2 on her own, they both sat down and began eating discussing the events of the day and what could be done with Narutos tor... err training regimen for his new students.

Around half an hour later they decided to head to bed and for the next several hours the sounds emanating from their room could be heard as far away as the Uchiha compound, later both would describe the night as one of the best of their lives.

* * *

Enjoy the ending? I hope so

Next chapter: Any one got a bungee cord?: Chapter 21 – Irony Anyone?


	21. Irony Anyone?

Power – Redefined

Chapter 21 – Irony Anyone?

* * *

The next morning Naruto went to meet the class whilst a small army of clones invaded the hospital intent on learning every medical jutsu they could. More than one member of the class found the training more closely resembled torture, but they couldn't really complain when Naruto was doing training on a level that was torture for them to just look at. On the third afternoon Naruto began teaching them the jutsu he had lined up for them.

This carried on with the class slipping into a routine and gradually arriving earlier and leaving later, after a month Hinata discovered she was pregnant and within an hour so did all of Konoha. Two months after that the class was ready to be put into teams.

By this point Obitos face had been completely restructured and His mind was slowly but surely being pieced back together by Inoichi but it was exhausting work and was expected to take at least another 2 months possibly as long as 8 before it would be complete. Itachi was still having 'demonstrations' from Ibiki, with occasional help from Anko.

* * *

8 teams were going to be tested to be genin and Naruto stood in the Hokages office to find out which team he would be taking, with him in the room where Sasuke, Gaara, Kakashi, Anko, Kurenai, Gai and Hayate Gekkou

'Alright I'm going to give you your team numbers and a sheet with the members of your team on it, first Gaara you have team 1, Anko, you have team 2, Gai you have team 3, Sasuke team 4, Hayate team 5, Kakashi team 6, DON'T be late to pick them up, Naruto you've got team 7 and Kurenai you have team 8 again' said Minato as each in turn went up and collected their team sheet. Naruto looked at his and wasn't surprised to find it consisted of Konohamaru Sarutobi, Hanabi Hyuga and Niji Makiwari. He placed a hand on Kakashis shoulder while he looked over it to see that he had Chigusa Nara, Aoi Yamanaka and Mame Inuzuka. He felt a hand on his shoulder and knew it was Gaara and Sasuke ready to go and so they went, in a yellow flash as normal.

* * *

They arrived outside the classroom to wait for the teams to be announced inside the room, they knew they had about 10 minutes to wait before the groups would be ready, the teacher was just getting them ready to tell them who would be on which team

'So who have you got Gaara?' asked Sasuke

'I have Rei Kasaishi, Moegi Kihito and Kadaj Kinnoka, what about you?' replied Gaara

'Udon Sugakusha, Chihiro Aburame and Yoroi Akimichi' said Sasuke

'So you three have the medics, Chihiro, Rei and Aoi, they'll make good additions to your teams' said Naruto

'So who have you two got?' asked Gaara

'I have Chigusa Nara, Aoi Yamanaka and Mame Inuzuka, how about you Naruto?' asked Kakashi

'Konohamaru, Hanabi and the one thought to be dead last in the class, Niji Makiwari' said Naruto, Sasuke whistled

'That's quite the team you've got there, you expect them to pass?' he asked

'Actually I expect all four of our teams to pass, the Daimyo has allowed all teams that pass to be passed, normally only 3 would be passed' explained Naruto

'Why are you so confident?' asked Kakashi sceptically

'I'm afraid I'm not allowed to tell you that, come on he just finished announcing the teams so we might as well go get them' said Naruto and with that he turned and walked in the door followed by Kakashi, Sasuke and Gaara.

* * *

'Alright team 1 you're with me' said Gaara

'Team 4 with me' said Sasuke

'Team 6 meet me on the roof in 5 minutes' Said Kakashi before disappearing

'Team 7, you have all the fun of having me as a sensei' said Naruto, instantly 3 faces lit up, not only where they happy with the other people on the team but they had the best sensei they could ask for. Naruto led the team out and then up a couple of levels to where the missions where handed out from.

'Hey Kotetsu did you keep that mission to one side for me?' he asked as he walked in

'Sure Naruto, here it is' replied the bandaged chunin passing Naruto a piece of paper, Naruto then turned round and walked back out the door closely followed by his team once in the hallway he turned to address them

'Alright team in order to pass you have to complete this D-rank mission, finding and capturing the Daimyos Mothers cat, Tora' said Naruto holding the piece of paper so the three could see it.

* * *

2 hours later Naruto sat in a room in the lower part of the Hokage tower, with him where Kakashi, Gaara, Anko, Kurenai and Gai. After 5 minutes Hayate appeared closely followed by Sasuke a moment after that Minato appeared at the desk in the room

'Alright I'll get Kakashis report from him later and we'll begin now' he said sitting down

'No need Minato-sensei I'm already here' said Kakashi

'Oh, OK then, alright we'll start with team 1, Gaara' said Minato gesturing for Gaara to speak

'Team 1 pass, they're a good team, planning on the move and putting it into action even faster' said the ex-sand ninja

'Alright, team 2 Anko'

'Worst team I've ever trialled, couldn't even plan for themselves never mind for a team, failed and dropped' said Anko

'OK, next team 3, Gai?'

'Sadly their flames were not bright enough and I had to fail them' he said and although not shouting he was still loud

'OK then, team 4 Sasuke' said Minato cleaning his ear out to try and get his hearing back

'Teamed up and nearly laid waste to me, passed with flying colours' said the Uchiha

'Impressive, team 5 Hayate?' Minato was quite surprised by Sasukes account

'Cough, failed, couldn't even comprehend the term, cough, teamwork' said the chronically ill jonin

'That's not good, OK team 6, Kakashi?'

'I expect them to be the second best team I've ever had' said the one-eyed jonin

'Not major considering you've only had one team and they're basically the best in Konohas history, OK Son how about team 7?'

'I had them catch Tora' said Naruto, getting a wince from all except Gaara

'So your team failed then brat' it was a statement rather than a question from Anko

'Nope, they didn't even get scratched, I think they set a new record too' said Naruto, with the exception of Gaaras every other jaw in the room dropped

'What's so amazing about that?' asked Gaara

'Of course you came from Suna, catching Tora, the Fire Daimyos Mothers cat, is the worst D-rank mission and the bane of every genins time as a ninja, for a team to successfully catch it without a scratch is a task on its own, but for a team using it as their genin teamwork test to do it AND set a new record is completely unheard of, more so than a genin taking on an S-rank mission' explained Kakashi to which Gaaras mouth formed an 'O' in comprehension

'Alright, finally Kurenai how did team 8 do?'

'Failed' replied the red-eyed jonin

'Very well then, teams 1, 4, 6 and 7 will begin missions tomorrow, the rest of you will go back to normal duty and Naruto can I have a word with you in my office please' said Minato before vanishing back to his office closely followed by Naruto.

* * *

Naruto stood in the Hokages office, behind the desk sat Minato looking at the sheet with the passing teams on it and in the chair next to Naruto was the Fire Daimyo, intently waiting for the results from the test

'As I predicted all 15 of the students Naruto taught passed with flying colours, even Kakashi and Sasuke had to pass their teams' said Minato

'Excellent, Excellent, now we just need to arrange this for the next term' said the Daimyo

'Which is why we've called you here Naruto, along with training your team over the next 3 months we need you to form a report so that we can arrange for a teacher for the next set of students, this will be counted as an S-rank mission due to the time it will take and the detail you will need to go into. We will need a precise run down of exactly what methods you used to train and test them. Furthermore we would like a complete report detailing your recommendations and reasons for changes to the academy, this will need to be completed in one month to allow us time to approve and upgrade the academy in time for the next group of students' said Minato

'Right well I can give you the first recommendation now, scrap chunin as teachers, they need to be jonin, the older the better really to pass on their knowledge and experience to the class, the longer a shinobi lives the more knowledge they have, but more importantly the more knowledge on how to survive they have to pass on, every life we save today is one we don't have to replace tomorrow' said Naruto

'Too true, very well then, I'll leave you to it and good luck' said Minato, Naruto waved and then vanished

'It looks like you win our bet, so which other facility would you like a budget increase for?' asked the Daimyo

'I'll need to check through our records, but I have a feeling the hospital could use it either that or a for a second academy, I've been doing some thinking, for the most part our students aren't taught any medical ninjutsu and any that are, are usually chunin before the training begins, if we began training them at an earlier age they would be better medics and more suited for that area, it would also mean we'd be able to train more medics without depleting our ninja ranks' explained Minato, the Daimyo considered the idea

'I shall give your proposal some thought, you put forward a most persuasive argument, we shall speak more of this in the morning but for now I bid you good night' said the Daimyo as he got up, he then walked to the door and left, Minato left as soon as the door closed in the same manner as Naruto had.

* * *

Three months later Naruto and Sasuke where standing talking in the clearing of a training area waiting for their teams

'So how is Hinata coming along?' asked Sasuke

'Very well, she seems to be more excited about it each day, I understand Temari's pregnant now too is that right?' said Naruto

'Yeah, first time in my life I've fainted, I couldn't be happier' replied Sasuke, smiling broadly and Naruto smiled as well. Naruto glanced up at the entrance to the area to see the 2 teams making their way into it, a few moments later the 6 genin where standing in front of their sensei

'Right now then, first thing is your chest weights, you need to take them off' said Naruto, Chihiro and Hanabi moved into the bushes to take them off without the watching eyes of the boys whilst the boys just took them off and put them in a pile in front of the 2 jonin. A couple of minutes later the 2 girls came back out and added their weights to the pile

'Good, now while Sasuke seals them away I'm going to teach you a jutsu to quickly remove the remaining weights' said Naruto. Over the next hour the 2 teams learned and practised the jutsu, Naruto had been wise enough to bring extra sets with him because it took Niji 6 tries before he could release them without losing them, the seventh attempt still sent them flying but he was able to find them at the edges of the clearing.

'Great, now that we have that, more or less, under control we can move on, now the reason that both teams are assembled here is for a joint mission, this mission is rated as a B-rank and the only reason you're getting it is because we've pooled the teams and me and Sasuke are your sensei. Now then down to business, a wealthy merchant has been having problems with a group of missing ninja ambushing him on his journeys, either for the food he is taking or the money he is bringing back, our mission is to protect him and his step-son on their return to wave, we are to travel as part of the merchant group and protect them, if we can we are to capture as many of the ninja as possible to return them to Konoha for interrogation if we can't capture them we are to kill them, for each confirmed kill we will receive a bonus from the client as well as the bounty from their village' explained Naruto

'OK you 6 go and pack and meet us at the front gate in half an hour, you'll each be given an image to henge into, dismissed' said Sasuke, the 6 genin quickly ran off towards their homes to pack

'Ironic isn't it?' asked Naruto

'What is?' asked Sasuke a little confused

'Their first high level mission isn't that far from our own, it's to wave, guarding a client the only real differences are the client and the fact that we know what level are opponents are supposed to be' said Naruto thoughtfully, Sasuke became thoughtful too

'Yes I suppose it is rather ironic, shall we go and see how the girls are before we go?' asked Sasuke, Naruto nodded and placed his hand on Sasukes shoulder instantly vanishing.

* * *

They appeared outside Narutos home and walked in, over the years Hinata and Temari had grown almost as close as Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura, to her credit, had quieted down a lot, she'd started training as a medic ninja shortly after Tsunade and Shizune returned to Konoha, she had initially trained with Shizune to increase her chakra reserves from the almost none existent level they'd been at to around the same level as Temaris, then Tsunade had taken her and trained her to be a highly skilled medic ninja, around a year and a half ago she realised that Sasuke was completely out of her reach since he was happy with Temari and had finally settled on Choji, she saw no problem with his weight since he was an Akimichi it was not only normal but also needed and she found his kindness to be almost too good to be true, when she weighed everything about him up she decided that for the small price of him being a very large guy he was in fact well worth her time and from then had slowly formed a friendship with Temari and Hinata as well as strengthening the bond she had with Naruto and Sasuke to the point that they really did consider each other siblings.

At this point in time Hinata was leaning back on the right side of the large sofa with Temari sitting on the left, Sakura was sitting in the armchair in the corner farthest from the door and Gaara, who wasn't due to meet his team till later that day, was sitting on a patch of hovering sand with Utsuri on his lap

'Hey everyone' Said Naruto as he walked in, he walked straight over to Hinata and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, which she returned before gesturing to Sasuke to take the remaining chair and moving over next to Gaara who quickly created a patch of sand floating at his shoulder height, which Naruto placed his left hand on and pushed himself up horizontally, once up he moved onto his stomach and lay with his elbows bent and his chin resting on his hands

'So what news is there?' asked Sasuke as he sat down in the chair

'I'm pregnant' said Utsuri, causing all heads to turn to her and Gaara to blush and try and hide his head in the sand, literally, only for Naruto to swat it out of the way before accompanying the rest of the group in giving the two their congratulations

'Well Sakura what news can you give us?' asked Naruto

'Shikamaru and Ino are finally engaged, Tsunade and Jiriaya have started dating, again, Kiba is dating a civilian, I don't know who she is and he's keeping very hush, hush about it, but from what I can gather he's treating her very well and Shino and his family are in talks with the family of the girl he was betrothed to, apparently he's been seeing her for the last 2 years and they're looking to move the marriage forwards because they like each other so much, and erm, I'm pregnant too' Sakura whispered the last part but Naruto picked it up

'It's about time you and Choji got it together congratulations' said Naruto, getting curious looks from everyone else and a surprised look from Sakura, she was on the opposite side of the room and he was the only one to hear her

'What are you on about Naruto?' asked Hinata, Naruto gave her a broad smile

'Sakura's pregnant' he said and again the congratulations flowed round the room

'OK so what about you two, how are the teams?' asked Hinata

'Actually that's what we came to tell you about, the teams are making excellent progress and as of today we'll be leaving with them, on a 3 day B-rank mission to wave' explained Naruto, after a moments silence Sakura started laughing

'What's so funny?' asked Temari

'I just find it ironic' said Sakura, calming herself down enough to talk

'Why's that?' asked Gaara causing Sakura to start laughing again

'Because our first C-rank mission as team 7 was a guarding mission to wave which got upped to an A-rank mission, it's even more ironic because we where the first team Kakashi passed and now Sasuke and Naruto are going back to wave in basically the same circumstances' she said as she finally stopped laughing

'Yep I can definitely see the irony in that' said Hinata smiling

'OK, well nice as it was chatting to you all I think it's time me and Sasuke got going to meet our clients and our teams, see you in a few days' said Naruto, Gaara slowly lowered the sand from his feet forwards till he was standing on the floor and then brought it all back to him as Sasuke stood up, they walked over to their respective fiancés, kissed them and then left.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke arrived at the main gate and stood silently waiting, each had their own thoughts about the up coming journey and where wondering how their teams would perform, Naruto having slightly higher expectations of his team since he knew more of their capabilities. 20 Minutes after the 2 jonin arrived at the gate and man looking to be around 25 and a boy that looked around 11 or 12 approached the gate, the man was pulling a small cart behind him.

The man was around 5'7" with close cut black hair that was spiked up, he wore a navy blue business suit with a light blue shirt, the top button was undone and he wasn't wearing a tie, on his shoes where a pair of walking boots but Naruto suspected that he had a pair of decent shoes in the cart.

The boy was around 4'2" with shoulder length unruly black hair, he wore a pair of black trousers and a t-shirt the same colour orange as Narutos jump suit used to be, Naruto and Sasuke shared a look instantly knowing exactly who the boy was. Sure enough as the boy came close enough to make out his face he shouted out

'Naruto' and instantly started running towards him, as soon as he got there he threw his arms around him

'Inari, my you've grown, it's so good to see you again' said Naruto returning the embrace as the man slowly walked up and stopped in front of them

'Inari you know him?' asked the man, his voice was quite light but had a rough edge to it as though he had a sore throat, as Naruto looked at his face he found him to be quite a handsome man, his large brown eyes held no malice or ill will and the areas around his slim lips showed the signs of wrinkles caused by smiling, his small nose looked as though it may have been broken once or twice, Inari looked up at him and smiled

'Of course I know them, this is Naruto Uzumaki and that's Sasuke Uchiha' said Inari pointing to Sasuke as he said his name, the man's eyes widened

'Do you mean THE Naruto Uzumaki?' asked the man to which Inari nodded vigorously

'You must be the client, tell me are you married to Tsunami or is that yet to happen?' asked Naruto

'Yes I'm married to her, my name is Kakochi Funanori. So you where the one responsible for helping Inari find his smile again and freeing wave, it's a pleasure to meet you' said the man

'I couldn't stand to see him moping around like that, he reminded me too much of myself, I can't take all the credit, Sasuke here had as much to do with it as I did. Now we just need to wait for our teams to arrive and we can get going' replied Naruto

* * *

Around 20 minutes later the two teams where finally assembled and ready to go at the main gate. As they turned to leave an ANBU wearing what appeared to be a snake mask appeared behind them

'Master Naruto I have an additional mission for you from the Hokage, it is S-rank and will not interfere with your current mission. The details of the mission are in this scroll' said the ANBU handing the scroll to Naruto

'Thank you snake, I'll be sure to read it on the way, oh and tell the Hokage I said he's an old git for giving me the mission at the last possible moment, he could've at least given it to me when he dropped the other one off this morning' said Naruto smiling, the ANBU simply nodded and vanished again

'He'll get you back one of these times you know that Naruto' said Sasuke as they began walking towards wave, not yet realising that everyone except Hanabi, Konohamaru hadn't moved and of those the only one with their mouth still closed was Udon, after several paces Naruto noticed and turned to the group

'Come on, what's the hold up?' he said

'How did you call the Fourth Hokage an old git, to an ANBU, who looked like he was going to relay the message, instead of getting beaten into the ground?' asked Udon, who was apparently the only one able to find his voice

'Have you forgotten who the fourth is in relation to me Udon?' asked Naruto, slowly but surely the cogs in Udons mind could be seen piecing together his knowledge and dredging out memories from the past before his face lit up in realisation

'That's right he's your Father' he said, this got Inaris attention

'But I thought you didn't have any parents Naruto?' said the young wavian his voice holding hurt thinking he'd been lied to

'I didn't when I met you, it wasn't till several months after that, that the series of events came about that lead to his revival and now I have a father, which I'm incredibly glad for. You weren't lied to Inari, I really did grow up without family or friends, now I've been fortunate enough to have found both, I have my fiancé Hinata, my cousins who you and I both met the last time I was in wave, Wahei, Taihei and Utsuri, I have Gaara and Sasuke who are as close to me as brothers, Gaaras sister and Sasukes fiancé Temari and several other friends that I can count on. Now will you all stop gawking and we'll get moving to wave, it's at least a days travel from here' said Naruto and he once again began walking with Sasuke, Konohamaru and Hanabi following, the rest quickly sorted themselves out and began moving again

For Niji it was quite the amount of information, he just kept learning more and more about his hero, he'd now learnt that he'd gone from being the village pariah to its pride and joy, he also learned that he had a heart that could be made of nothing but gold, after all to forgive a village for all the wrongs they had done him was no easy feat, time and again his hero gave him more and more reasons to aspire to be like him. The more he learned about him the more he realised that chances where he would never be like him, but that sure as hell wasn't going to stop him trying.

* * *

'Erm, you guys might wanna duck' said Naruto as they where walking along the road to wave nearly 2 hours later, Sasuke wasn't about to argue and quickly pulled his team to the ground, Inari knew better than to question Naruto and quickly pulled his step-father to the ground. Narutos team had long since learned to listen to him when he said to duck

_**Flashback active**_

'_Erm, Niji, you may just want to duck' said Naruto, the boy shot him a confused look_

'_Why Naruto-sensei?' asked the boy, as he finished he was sent to the floor as a now dazed looking pigeon ploughed into the back of his head_

'_That's why. Why on earth does he always insist on sending No. 27 'the hatter', he knows it can't land to save its life and the only way it's found to stop is by slamming into something going as slow as it can manage?' Naruto posed the question more to the wind than anyone in particular, Naruto had questioned the Hokage about it once, at which point the Hokage changed the subject after that he just gave up asking and instead tended to send the pigeon with a return message to the Hokage._

_**Flashback deactivate**_

After that point team 7 hadn't bothered questioning Naruto, if he told them to duck they hit the floor before anything could hit them. Just as the last member of Sasukes team hit the floor a wave of kunai launched over the top of their heads all flying onwards to lodge into trees, with the exception of about half a dozen which now lay at Narutos feet. He dropped the one he'd caught and used to deflected the others with and then looked up from the scroll

'You might as well come out, your chakra's barely concealed and your first attack has failed' said Naruto looking at a set of bushes over to his left.

* * *

End of chapter :P hehe, sorry couldn't resist

Next chapter: Old enemies rise from the ashes and a new ally joins the group: Chapter 22 – New Allies and Old Enemies


	22. New Allies and Old Enemies

Power – Redefined

Chapter 22 – New Allies and Old Enemies

* * *

'You might as well come out, your chakra's barely concealed and your first attack has failed' said Naruto looking at a set of bushes over to his left. Niji followed the gaze of the blond, noticing as he past over that his sensei had applied a henge, his clothes remained the same but his hair was now dark brown and straight, Niji wondered but couldn't quite work out why his sensei had applied the jutsu. That became apparent when 6 people came out of the bushes wearing Iwa forehead protectors.

There where 2 boys about the same age as those in their group, each about the same height as Hanabi, they stood on either side of the group the one on the left wore a plain black t-shirt and plain black trousers with kunai and shuriken pouches on each side of his waist, his forehead protector held his long black hair out of the brown eyes set deep into his skull. The boy on the right wore a similar set of clothes except his where the colour of dried mud, his forehead protector keeping his strange green hair out of his equally strange grey eyes.

On the inside of each of the where 2 older boys both looking to be about 13 or 14 each wearing the standard chunin vest of Iwa with a grey t-shirt underneath and black trousers each had a shuriken holder on their left hip and a kunai holder on their right. The one standing on the right had his black hair cut short, his dark blue eyes narrowed in a glare and his forehead protector on his right arm. The one standing on the left had his forehead protector on his forehead but twisted round to his left, holding back the side of his hair that ran to his shoulder whilst the other side was cut so short that it almost wasn't there, he gazed at the group through half closed green eyes.

The final 2 members stood in the centre of the group on the left was a man wearing an Iwa jonin vest over a dark brown t-shirt, his forehead protector wrapped around his left arm, he towered above the others in both groups, standing around 6'10" to 7' tall and was at least 3 feet across the chest, his muscular legs, each as thick as one of the genin standing behind Naruto and Sasuke, where covered in a pair of dark blue trousers, his head was completely shaved and littered with small scars, his large lips where curled into a sneer that almost reached his onyx eyes. In his left hand was a chakra string that led to a collar around the neck of the girl next to him.

The girl looked to be about 15 or 16 and was around the same height as Hinata, her forehead protector kept her strange and unruly black, white and grey hair out of her solid black and almost lifeless eyes, Naruto could tell that she'd been thoroughly broken by Iwa, she wore a long sleeved black t-shirt with the Iwa insignia emblazoned in white on the front, her slender hands had long nails that ended in points, her body hunched at the shoulders and her legs, dressed in black shorts that ran to her mid thigh, bent at the knees, her ninja sandals showed the nails on her feet to be the same as those on her hands. Naruto could tell before he saw her but now he was certain, she was a jinchuuriki, container to the Shichibi no Kaku, the seven tailed badger.

'So we get to kill the last loyal Uchiha, ha, this should be fun' said the jonin, his harsh grating voice cut through Inari and his step-father but Naruto, Sasuke and the genin where unfazed by it, Naruto quickly formed a plan

'Sasuke you take the jonin, show him the reason the Sharingan is feared, genin drop your weights' said Naruto he waited for them to comply before continuing 'Niji your target is the chunin on the right, Yoroi yours is the chunin on the left, Hanabi take the genin on the right, Konohamaru and Udon take the genin on the left, Chihiro guard the clients, I'll handle the unfortunate girl that's being used as a living weapon because she keeps Iwa safe from the Shichibi' he ordered. The girls eyes widened a little when she heard the way he referred to her, no malice or hatred, in fact she was amazed that he referred to her as a girl in Iwa she was only ever referred to as 'demon', 'weapon' or something similar

'Do you really think those brats will be able to manage it? Most of them hardly look to be out of nappies' mocked the chunin on the right, a moment later he was he was doubled over on his knees with Niji standing over him

'Personally I think this won't be to hard if you can't keep up with me going that slow' said Niji, his voice held no hint of arrogance or cockiness, it was flat an monotonous as though he'd just stated that on a clear day the sky was blue. With the end of his statement the rest of the genin and Sasuke launched, each hitting their opponent square between the eyes with a kunai as Niji himself brought a kunai down on the back of his opponents neck swiftly severing his spinal column and killing him.

WARNING THINGS ARE GOING TO REALLY REFLECT THE RATING IN THIS PART, YOU HAVE BEEN **WARNED**

'Now then let's see what we can do for this poor girl' said Naruto activating his Fuengan and looking directly into the girls eyes. A moment later he was standing across from the girl in the strange desert world it was at this point that the girl noticed his henge was gone

'The Lightning Leaf, even I have a flee on sight order when it comes to dealing with you' she said, her voice little more than a whisper and sounded as though she'd never really used he vocal cords

'What have they done to you, you can hardly talk, your eyes, so sad, they show you've been broken, you no longer fear death you beg for it and yet you remain loyal to them. What have they done to put you in such a state?' said Naruto as images started flashing behind the girl

'Shichibi no Kaku, I've got something you need to hear' said Naruto, the girls eyes widened, he knew she was a demon and was addressing her as such now, then to her shock a badger with 7 small tails appeared in between herself and Naruto

'What'd ya want?' said the badger

'Shukaku, Hekigan and Akahito are gone absorbed by myself and the other 2 containers. Akatsuki are no more, wiped out in a joint assault between Konoha and Kumo which I lead myself' said Naruto

'For you to refer to them by those names it's apparent to me that you've absorbed one, tell me which was yours?' asked the badger

'I was the container to Akahito' said Naruto

'Shichibi who are those 3 that where mentioned?' asked the girl

'Other demons Cub, Shukaku the one tailed racoon of the desert, Hekigan is Shinigamis assistant the Nibi no Nekomata and Akahito, the King of Demons Kyuubi no Yoko' explained the badger

'So you're telling me he has the power of the strongest demon to ever walk the earth?' asked the girl the badger simply nodded

'What kind of life has she had?' asked Naruto

'Worse than I ever thought humans capable of, raped and beaten daily from age 6 and since my chakra was forced to heal her every day was like she was a virgin again for them as they ripped her open each night and trained her through the day, 4 hours sleep just enough time for me to finish healing her and then training again, add to that she's got a blood line, she can control the elements without chakra if she's hit by them enough and hit by them enough she was again and again a different sadist each day, burned, electrocuted, buried alive, all but drowned and buffeted around a tunnel by wind jutsu, at times even I was surprised she was still alive. In just 4 years they completely broke her to the point that she no longer had any will of her own to prove to the council she was loyal the Tsuchikage had her walk into the centre of the village, strip naked, put her wrists and neck in stocks that weren't locked and had her raped and whipped for 6 hours straight then returned to her cell where she was again beaten and raped just because they could' said the badger, its rage starting out as almost nothing and building to the point of being in an almost blind fury

'Then I have an offer for you, tell me what is your name?' asked Naruto

'Demon' replied the girl, Naruto was shocked he looked to the badger

'It's all they've consistently called her, whether it was demon slut or demon whore or some other variation the only name they're consistently called her is Demon so she's taken it as her own' explained the badger

'Very well I'll have to sort you out a name. Regardless what would you say about coming to Konoha and joining our forces, we only ask 2 things first is that your life and the lives of your comrades is more important than the mission and second is all the information on Iwa and its military movements, I can promise you that you won't be tortured if you don't tell us willingly, after all with what you've already been through even Ibiki couldn't get anything out of you, so what do you say eh? You'll be welcomed with open arms and treated like a jailer instead of your inmate' asked Naruto the girl thought about it for a while before nodding slowly

'I guess so, if it really will be as good as you say it will' as she said this Naruto started flashing many of his recent memories, showing him, Gaara and Yugito being accepted by the people and having fun with their friends

'These are some of my memories, the civilians have learned that they need not fear me, only respect the power I poses and the same holds true for Gaara, there and Yugito, there' he said pointing out Gaara and Yugito in a couple of his memories 'If you still feel a little unsure then come with us to Wave and learn about us, if you feel that you don't wish to be part of Konoha you can walk away and travel the world, I'll give you an up-to-date bingo book and you can live by collecting bounties' he explained

The girl was stunned, he was willing to let her just walk away, no problems as long as she gave them a chance, that was more than enough for her battered and broken mind to decided that Konoha was where she wanted to go and after everything that Iwa had put her through she'd tell them everything from a detailed description of the village layout and its recent plans and military movements to the size of the Tsuchikages dick her mind made up she voiced her decision

'Konoha is my new home' she whispered, Narutos face lit up with a grin so wide it almost looked like it would cut his face in half

'Then welcome to the family because that's basically what most Konoha ninja see each other as, cousins and great cousins, aunts and uncles, for the most part we're all just extended family to one another' said Naruto, the girl smiled, it was barely visible, but it was there, the first smile of her life and it was genuine. The world faded to black and she found herself once again standing across from the most powerful and kindest ninja she'd ever met

'Alright Sasuke we're heading on to wave and on the way we need to find a name for the newest member of Konoha' said Naruto, Sasuke looked over and watched as the girl untied her Iwa forehead protector and snapped it clean in half before throwing it with the dead bodies

'Naruto-sensei why do we need to find her a name?' asked Niji

'Because unfortunately Iwa didn't consider her human enough to have one so she has no name and we need to find a suitable name for her' explained Naruto and with that the group plus one headed for wave, the girl lagged behind a little and listened intently to the conversations. She was shocked when one of the boys with a Konoha forehead protector started making fun of Naruto, to which Naruto told him to shut up and he just continued taunting him, then when a group of bandits jumped out and Naruto motioned for her to stay back she watched in awe as the boy that had not moments before been making fun of Naruto as though he was weaker took orders from him and followed them with out hesitation.

* * *

The rest of the trip to wave was highly uneventful, they found the missing-nin and took them out swiftly and efficiently and they slept the first night in a clearing before moving on and arriving around lunch time the next day. They stayed up until nearly midnight chatting to them about how they'd been like old friends, at one point she'd asked if they knew anything about the massacre of wave, she'd barely heard of the event and the fact that Zabuza Momochi had been killed in it, Naruto, Sasuke, the boy that lived there, she recalled his name as Inari, the woman and the old man grew very solemn before Naruto spoke up

'Yes we know it well, in fact you couldn't get more reliable sources, we where on the bridge that day, you saw the plaque calling the bridge the Great Naruto Bridge? Well that Naruto was me, I watched as Zabuza was saved by his apprentice, Haku, a soul as kind as my own which I spared to watch them die at the hands of our jonin sensei, then he took a kunai in his mouth and slaughtered five hundred thugs and mercenaries, he truly earned his name, The Demon of the Bloody Mist, he laid waste to them and took down Gato before finally succumbing to the injuries our sensei Kakashi Hatake and the mercenaries had given him and died' he said quietly.

Naruto then discussed the contents of the scroll with Tazuna and they went through the details of the trade agreement Konoha had with Wave and began discussing the changes that were to be made to it.

It wasn't long after that that they retired to bed, she slept comfortably in the arms of the woman, Tsunami, her husband was kind enough to allow the females to share a single room so that they could comfort and lay at ease the girl, she found the Hyuga girl, Hanabi, to be a kind girl and although a little bit stuck up she was otherwise very down to earth and had realised that she was at a great disadvantage using only her family style, having been there the day Naruto had shown that the gentle fist could not beat all opponents.

The other girl, Chihiro, Hanabi had said reminded her of her sister, kind and caring to anyone as long as they didn't hurt someone she cared about, the girl herself had said she was training to be a medic ninja and hoped to be able to use her families Kekkai Genkai to be a better medic by using them to do things others couldn't.

* * *

After the best nights sleep the girl had ever had they awoke, Naruto called Hanabi out of the room and she came back in a few moments later with clean clothes for her, they consisted of a pair of black three quarter length trousers and a red t-shirt with the Konoha emblem in white on the front. After what Naruto called a light morning work out, which for the genin consisted of around a 5 mile jog and consisted of a 40 mile sprint of the adults, which left her panting a little and then discovering that whilst Sasuke had not worn weights and came in second Naruto, who had completed it in two thirds of the time it took Sasuke was wearing gravity seals set to 60 times the force of gravity.

Around midday they left for Konoha, this time travelling a lot quicker but she could tell they could move even faster because the genin where jumping around and messing around, Sasuke noticed her confused look and explained that they had completed the mission with time to spare so whilst they where moving at a reasonable rate they where taking their time to enjoy the trip since they had time to kill, when she asked what their kage would say Naruto replied that he wouldn't care, if he needed them he could get a message to them in moments by pulsing his chakra in a certain way a certain number of times, he had enough that it could be felt in almost any part of the elemental countries and was considered an instant recall, the only missions to be completed where guarding/escort missions and S-class assassinations.

They returned to Konoha in the early evening and she was shocked when the chunin guards didn't even stop them from walking in with her, as she walked through the village she saw many of the villagers throwing curious glances at her and looks of complete admiration at the 2 jonin in front of her. They arrived at the kage tower and walked in, she expected them to have to wait to see one of the chunin to give a mission report when instead Naruto just walked up to the Kages secretary

'Has he got anything other than the un-defeat-able evil in there with him?' he asked, the secretary just smiled and shook her head and so the group moved on and to her complete shock just walked right into the Kages office with one of the genin closing the door behind them, her surprise was only about to grow

'What's up ya old fart?' asked Naruto as he slumped into one of the chairs in front of the desk, Sasuke eased himself into another and motioned for her to take the third while the genin just plonked themselves on the floor and started chatting quietly amongst themselves, she eased herself into the chair quietly and sat with her legs together, her hands in her lap and her head facing her lap

'Ah Naruto, how'd the mission go?' asked Minato looking up from his paper work

'Fine, fine, we took out 5 Iwa ninja and this young lady, jailer of the Shichibi, has agreed to join Konoha, I'm not sure if she'll give us any information, that's up to her, after the way Iwa has treated her I don't her going anywhere near the interrogation department, they wouldn't get anything out of her with it, she's been through too much for it to bother her, they never gave her a name and we're yet to find a suitable one for her, any suggestions?' said Naruto, Minato turned to where Naruto had motioned and found himself looking at the top of a head

'Look up my dear, we aren't Iwa and I like to look people in the eyes when I talk to them, if I thought a Jinchuuriki was any less than human then I wouldn't be any better, particularly as my Son used to be one, didn't you Naruto?' said Minato, against all her own thoughts her head instantly sprang up to look at the man talking to her when he said Naruto was his son and sure as day light she could see the eerie resemblance between Naruto and the Hokage, things started to make sense now, the guards not bothering, the reaction of the secretary and that they knew they didn't need to hurry back

'She already knows that, now then she needs a name… Hey dad what name would you have used if you'd had the chance to give me a younger sister?' asked Naruto, Minato looked at him, his face a picture of confusion for a moment before realisation dawned

'Yes I believe that's a great idea.' he said before turning back to the girl 'Your name is now Ooburi Namikaze, welcome to the family' said Minato his voice was warm and jovial and a warm smile sat on his lips when he finished, the girl mulled the new information over for a few minutes before she smiled, again the smile was barely visible but it was there none the less

'Storm, I like it and thank you for bringing me into your family. The only way I can even begin to repay you is to bring you ban news, the Tsuchikage is planning on attacking Konoha, he knows about your alliance with Suna and Kumo and has allied with Mist, Waterfall and Grass for the coming attack, Mist and Waterfall will take on Kumo and Grass will take on Suna, I believe he may have also allied with several smaller villages to bolster numbers for Grass, Waterfall and Mist' she explained, her voice still barely above a whisper but over the course of her explanation it seemed to grow in strength

'Thank you, Naruto go and inform the rest your team, Sasuke get birds sent out to both Kumo and Suna as well as all the smaller villages in Fire country. Konohamaru, Hanabi I have a job for you too' said Minato, Naruto and Sasuke had already gone to complete their respective tasks

'What are your orders Lord Hokage?' asked Konohamaru as he and Hanabi moved forwards to stand in front of their Hokage

'Konohamaru I need you to go and assemble the council, tell them Konoha is going to war and this is an emergency, Hanabi I need you to get me Shikaku and Shikamaru Nara, those 2 are the best strategists we have' he said to the 2 genin, with a quick bow the 2 where off and running he then turned to the remaining 4 genin

'I need you 4 to track down any and every jonin sensei and genin team in the village and inform them of the situation' again with quick bows the genin where off and running, he then created and clone and turned his attention back to his newly adopted daughter

'I need you to tell me absolutely everything you can in as much detail as you can, if it's a war Iwa want it's a war they'll get and they'll be sharply reminded why we're considered the strongest hidden village in the elemental nations' he said to her. She swiftly set about telling her new father everything she could remember about Iwa, from its layout to the size and strength of its ninja force.

* * *

In the space of 48 hours Konoha had switched from peace time to battle ready, jonin and ANBU scoured the borders ready for any threat that may arise, the small villages of Fire country had been reinforced with Konoha squads, each having at least 2 squads of genin if for no other reason than to run messages around the villages, many had been put on a weight crash course and could lose the weights at a moments notice to be ready to run at full speed.

Suna had requested the aid of Konoha to strengthen its defences and in response Gaara, Utsuri and Kankuro had departed and would arrive within the next 12 hours, Kumo had recalled Yugito and Taihei had accompanied her to aid them, Temari and Sasuke had left for a smaller village in Fire Country but Utsuri and Temari had orders to leave and find safety if things got too dangerous for the safety of their unborn children, Hinata and Naruto where preparing a quick wedding, they decided that they wanted to be married before anything happened and they could sort out the true wedding that they both wanted after the war was done when it was safe to do so. Hinata was officially taken off the available shinobi roster as she was to heavily pregnant to do anything to help.

The Hyuga clan had begun their preparations for battle, the new council felt that the clan had disgraced itself by not participating effectively in the Kyuubis attack on Konoha and they sure as hell weren't going to allow it to happen again, they would have the women aid in the evacuation of the civilians since they didn't have the chakra reserves of their male counterparts, once the civilians where in the shelters they would have the option to stay and defend them or head out to the front lines and battle which would be of even more use as they would be similar to a second wave of fresh troops that would not only aid physically but would boost moral when they arrived.

* * *

At the end of the week the first reports from the border guards and scouts came back, Iwa forces where approaching the border, around the same time a message from the Tsuchikage arrived saying that they would be performing military manoeuvres in close proximity to the border and with that the first stage of the defence plan was launched.

The border guards and scouts began a retreat from the border, as they passed through each town they gathered the civilians, leaving the Shinobi and continued on for Konoha. In the space of just a week every town and village between Konoha and Fire countries border with earth country was free from civilians.

With the civilians clear Hyuga scouts where sent out to keep tabs on the Iwa forces and a little over a week after that they reported that the Iwa forces were massing and moving closer and closer to the border.

* * *

'Do you really think this plan will work?' she asked quietly, Ooburi had gradually built up the strength of her voice but it was still hardly above a whisper, she stood looking out of the Hokages office wearing a black long sleeve t-shirt baring Narutos signature 4 tailed fox covering the front looking out with a malicious snarl on its face and 2 tails snaking down each sleeve, on her left stood Naruto clad in his black steel-like clothing and on his left was Minato clad in his old battle jacket and ANBU gear minus the mask

'No, I know it will, I've seen Shikamaru plan for things and I know the only person to ever beat him in a game of Shogi or Go is his dad so there's no doubt in my mind, it will work' said Naruto his voice firm and holding a conviction that Ooburi hadn't heard in another's voice ever before

'And don't forget sweetheart that Iwa struggled to match Konoha when they only had the Yellow Flash to deal with, this time they've got the Lightning Leaf too' said Minato calmly, Ooburi nodded in memory, she'd been taught the history of the last shinobi war and Iwa had planned on using her as their secret weapon against Minato, they'd tried to instil a hatred of Konoha into her but that had been removed when they'd crushed her emotions and left her as an emotionless killing machine which allowed Naruto to get through to her and he was now slowly bringing her emotions back to the forefront.

* * *

A new twist and an old enemy, more fun to come

Next chapter: Chapter 23 – WAR


	23. WAR

Power – Redefined

Power – Redefined

Chapter 23 – WAR

+OoOOOooO

At dawn 2 days after Ooburi, Naruto and Minato had had their conversation in the Hokages office Iwa launched their primary assault on the walls of Konoha firing rocks and other earth jutsu in an attempt to break down their defences Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi stood atop the wall at different sections firing off various counter attacks. Ooburi waited behind the lines aiding the evacuation of the civilians until the time was right while Minato and 3 squads of ANBU launched an attack from behind the enemies lines, they would attack one area before regrouping and disappearing to another area, they only took out around 12 to 15 troops at each location but it was enough to start causing problems in the chain of command.

After their initial attack Minato and the ANBU retreated and Naruto and Sasuke grouped together and started launching wave after wave of Amaterasu on their hapless enemies, next a wave of chunin and jonin moved forwards on each side of the wall and launched various fire attacks. After that attack the Iwa forces pulled back to regroup at which point Naruto and Minato moved off the wall and launched a full scale assault on the enemy forces flying in and out of the enemy ranks a slicing up their opponents with a combination of Rasengans, kunai slices and shuriken waves.

Then as suddenly as their assault had begun they moved back behind the wall, the Iwa forces making a swift retreat to their field base to regroup, rearm and re-strategize. The Iwa forces had also been less than pleased to find that each village and town they fought to gain a hold over had been left deserted with the shinobis retreat and all the injured where taken. After almost an hour of waiting Iwa launched a second attack against the walls which was dealt with even quicker than the first by a swarm of Naruto clones using Amaterasu.

A similar process continued throughout the day with waves of Iwa forces rushing forwards and attacking the walls only to be prevented by various attacks by Leaf shinobi. As dusk began to settle Iwa retreated once more as Minato and Naruto stood above the gates watching their retreat

'What do think, was that a main force or where they just testing the water?' asked Naruto

'Just barely testing the water, that was mostly genin with a few chunin chucked in for some of the more chakra consuming attacks, I'd expect a number of attacks overnight as well' replied Minato

'Fine I'll henge some clones and in an hour or so they'll switch with the current watch so that we have a co-ordinated defence of all the members can see 360 degrees in total darkness' Said Naruto, Minato nodded

'Roger that, I'll pass the message around you go ahead and create the clones and get some sleep, you'll likely need it if something happens' said Minato, Naruto nodded before taking off to create the clones and get some sleep.

#

In Suna it had been a similar story with many of the Grass forces being either crushed by Gaaras sand, burned by Utsuris Amaterasu or blown back by the multitude of wind attacks launched by the Suna forces. The biggest problems lay in Kumo where the dense cloud cover left the Mist and Cloud shinobi on more or less even footing, the Waterfall shinobi either being easily dealt with by Cloud shinobi or just dealt with for being in the way by Mist shinobi. Yugito and Taihei where beyond dangerous with Taihei providing accurate locations of enemy shinobi through the cloud cover and then Yugito blasting them with lightning attacks laying waste to many unsuspecting shinobi struggling to use their Kirigakure training with all the noise and disturbance being created around them.

Every so often a number of Mist and/or Waterfall shinobi would band together to try and overwhelm them at which point Taihei would unleash an Amaterasu and leave them all as little more than ashes before moving position since the blast would give it away.

#

That night in Konoha Iwas ANBU made several attempts to sneak over the wall and each time they would either be seen by one of the clones and killed or would kill a clone alerting the rest to their presence. In Suna the cold temperature of the desert night left the Grass ninja unable to fight and huddling together for warmth whilst Suna ANBU would raid the camps every couple of hours and take out several of the guards and other high ranking ninja before slipping back into the night. In Kumo neither side made a move, the dense clouds only becoming denser in the cold air and preventing even the most skilled of ninja making any head way to make an attempt at their enemy.

Things progressed this way for nearly a month with Konoha suffering almost no casualties at all, Suna suffered minimal casualties and Kumo suffered a reasonable amount but left Mist and Waterfall nearly crippled. Grass where barely better and called a retreat and Iwa launched a final attack hoping to overwhelm Konoha with sheer numbers.

#

Dawn broke 2 days past the month that marked Ooburis first month in Konoha, the sentry clones launched their attacks as soon as the approaching Iwa forces came in range and instantly all the Konoha shinobi where scrambling to the walls. Wave after wave of Iwa ninja came at them again and again before being pushed back slightly, instantly Naruto, Minato, Sasuke, Wahei and Ooburi where in the gaps between the Iwa ninja and the walls that surrounded Konoha.

The Iwa ninja charged each of them trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers, the first to fall back was Sasuke, lacking the chakra reserves of Minato, Naruto and Ooburi and the experience of Wahei he found himself overrun and moved back while the ninja on the wall covered him. The next to retreat was Wahei followed shortly by Ooburi, her chakra reserves making up for the lack of experience the next back was Minato and with his allies clear Naruto unleashed the hell he was truly capable of.

The full power and some of the most devastating techniques that Akahito had ever come across in his millennia in existence came to the forefront and wave after wave of Iwa ninja where crushed, burned, drowned, shocked and blown away, in more ways than one.

Again and again he unleashed area wide concentrated chakra blasts, he lived up to his name of the Maelstrom and sliced up and blew away shinobi and kunoichi alike with hurricane force winds, he used pure chakra to generate earthquakes and split the ground beneath the opposing forces before sealing it back up and crushing those within. Like the Kyuubi once sealed within him he became a living natural disaster but unlike his former tenant he lacked the bloodlust induced rage and instead caused organised chaos.

By the time the sun reached its highest point the number of Iwa ninja left was drastically reduced, they'd come in wave after wave and had been skilfully herded into the range of Narutos attacks and generally annihilated. Swiftly the forces began their retreat barely an eighth of the initial forces heading for the border, swiftly the Konoha ninja gave chase and by the time the Iwa forces actually reached the border they where down to a mere tenth of their original forces.

Unfortunately among the list of dead on Konohas side were Akamaru, who died saving Kiba from a bolder, Kibas older sister Hana and her dogs who were buried alive by an earth jutsu trying to save people who'd been knocked off the wall and finally Might Gai, who died when he tried to destroy a boulder thrown over the wall which had been laced with exploding notes, his injuries where severe and by the time he was taken to the hospital he'd lost too much blood for even Tsunade to heal him.

#

By the end of the week the Earth Daimyo had come to Fire country, initially for talks with the Fire Daimyo and after the understanding was made that Iwa had acted without the Daimyos knowledge or approval he had moved onto Konoha where he had issued fifteen S-rank mission requesting the assassinations of the Tsuchikage and the council of Iwa. By the time the Earth Daimyo returned with a small contingent of Konoha forces the Kage and council had been eliminated and in less than a week the entire of The Village Hidden in the Stone had been disbanded and its forces spread amongst the smaller villages of Earth Country.

A week later Naruto was named the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, setting the record as the youngest and strongest Hokage to ever be produced by Konoha and Minato left with Kakashi and Obito to search for Rin.

I know this is short but next up is the epilogue and the end of Power – Redefined


	24. Epilogue

Power – Redefined

Power – Redefined

Chapter 24 – Epilogue

+OoOOOooO

Narutos first act was to completely disband the council and reform 3 separate councils made up of people he chose, he simply asked people to apply without any criteria given and selected those he thought best for the jobs. The first council to be reformed was the shinobi council consisting of the major clan heads and 4 high level jonin. The next was the civilian which was set up to deal solely with civilian matters and would have no control at all over the shinobi. The final council was the education council which would look over the education systems after each year and implement changes to optimise the running for each one, the first being the pre-ninja the second being those selected for training as ninja and the third being the civilian.

The next thing he did was to outlaw arranged marriages, he agreed that children could be brought together at an early age to increase the likelihood that they would end up in a relationship but they would not be forced into a marriage so that a family could gain political power. He also tightened the laws on what ninja clans could and could not permit their members to learn, this was to prevent the glaring weakness created by the Hyugas dependence on the gentle fist style.

3 months after the Third Great Shinobi War and the shortest war in the history of the Elemental Countries ended and just before the start of the chunin exams to be held in Suna, Hinata gave birth to her and Narutos first child, a little girl with bright blue eyes and wisps' of light blue hair which they named Tenpi. Naruto and Sasukes genin teams both achieved the rank of chunin at the exams. Neji having had the fate stick surgically removed from his ass finally realised that Tenten liked him and started dating her.

By the end of the year Sakura, Temari and Utsuri had all given birth and Ooburi seemed to have become quiet taken with Lee. Naruto and Hinata got married first, followed shortly by Gaara and Utsuri and Sasuke and Temari in a double wedding then Sakura married Choji and Shikamaru finally got his act together and asked Ino to marry him.

3 years later Gaara and Utsuri moved to Suna with Kankuro and Gaara took the position of Kazekage, six months after that Yugito and Taihei moved to Kumo with Yugito taking up the position of Raikage. Naruto and Hinata had had a further child as had Gaara and Utsuri and Choji and Sakura, Yugito and Taihei had their first as did Lee and Ooburi. Narutos genin team all attained the rank of jonin with Sasukes joining them 6 months later.

2 years after that Hanabi married Niji Makiwari and Mame Inuzuka in a three way wedding.

After 30 years as the Hokage at the age of 45 Naruto stepped down and handed over the reigns to Konohamaru, who took the office for ten years before passing it on to a new, younger Hokage.

The alliances between Konoha, Suna and Kumo only got stronger as time went on and as each new generation became friends with the children of their parents' friends and frequently marrying. In less than 5 generations the only villages remaining where Konoha, Suna and Kumo. Each enjoyed a state of peace and anytime a tyrant came to power in one of the villages he was swiftly dealt with to maintain the peace, Rain stayed in the background after Pains defeat they didn't have the power to challenge any others but could still handle enough missions to keep going.

This is the end of Power redefined, I am working on other stories and depending on how they go I'm hoping to have them up quiet soon.

After careful re-reading and consideration I have come to the conclusion that this story does in fact SUCK so I'm hoping to learn lessons from it and use those lessons to improve my future stories.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read and even more so to those that have reviewed, you've all been so helpful with writing this story.


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